Devil Never Cries
by Andross937
Summary: NGE Devil May Cry crossover. What happens when Shinji joins the ranks of the 'Sons of Sparda' at eight years old? The world of Neon Genesis Evangelion gets a dose of demon slaying! Can NERV handle a war with heaven AND hell at the same time?
1. Sons Of Sparda l Fight Demon To Demon!

**Devil Never Cries**

By: Andross937

disclaimer: Neither Neon Genesis Evangelion, nor Devil May Cry belongs to me in any way. I claim no ownership over either, and am making no profit from this story. The sole purpose for me writing this story is my own personal enjoyment, and so that others may possibly take some enjoyment from it as well. If the owners of either Neon Genesis Evangelion or Devil Man Cry wish it, I will remove this story from the internet completely. If someone is seriously offended by the material in this story, I will take the story down and attempt to remove the offending material before reposting it. If it is impossible to remove the offending material, I will leave the story off the internet all together.

-prologue-

The night was dark and cold as rain poured onto the streets and rooftops of the small city that few cared about. Despite the rain and the angry thunder rolling off the building walls, the sounds of crying could be heard near the train station. The sky thundered again at the sounds, as if trying to drown out the sounds of sadness from its ears, so that it could continue watering the city's streets in peace.

Still, the sounds of crying continued. At its source was the four year old Shinji Ikari, kneeling over the dead body of his teacher who he had been given to less then a full hour ago. The man had been stabbed in the chest with a large blade, and the one who had stabbed him still stood before Shinji. Shinji looked up with tears and rain stinging his eyes as he looked upon his teacher's killer.

It was a demon, Shinji's young mind knew that for a fact, without any hesitation or doubt. It was almost nothing but a skeleton covered in black robes with glowing red eyes. The bloody scythe it held over its head, still dripping with his teacher's blood, only served to hammer this fact in. It moaned lifelessly as it stood over Shinji, looking down at him with its dead face of a shriveled elongated skull.

Slowly it raised it's scythe up into the air high above its head, intending to bring it down on Shinji's child body. A lightning bolt flashed just over head, and thunder cracked that moment as the scythe cast a shadow over Shinji's face from the lightning. It paused as the demon made a strange noise of confusion, and Shinji finally looked away from the frozen scythe to see what had caused it. A huge sword was impaled through the demon's chest from behind, freezing the demon in motion.

With a quick slash upwards, the sword cut the demon in half. It's body burst into sand, spraying across Shinji's wet face, nearly blinding him as he had to cough to get the sand out of his open mouth and nose. Still, his stinging eyes returned to that blood stained scythe as it fell to the alley floor, landing in a puddle. He watched unblinking as the water and rain washed the blood off of the blade. Quickly the puddle turned red with the blood, while the blade became clean again.

Only when he saw the reflecting shine of the blade in the bloody puddle did he look up to see what had saved him. It was a man, standing tall above the kneeling four year old. He twirled the sword expertly for a moment before placing it back in its holder behind his back.

The man had white hair in a similar style to Shinji's hair cut, and soaked with the rain. His skin was pale, like a white American. His eyes were light blue and looked down at Shinji with some sympathy. He wore a red trench coat with only the inside buckle of the two buckles buckled, and his bare chest was plainly shown underneath. A pair of brown leather pants traveled down his legs until they were tucked into a pair of black heavy duty boots that were unzipped and buckled.

Looking up at the man's face again, even young Shinji could see the sympathy held in his features.

"Hey kid."

-end of prologue-

A train came pulling up into the station and its doors opened. As soon as the doors opened, the lights went out and the entire train powered down, leaving its doors wide open to let the passengers out. The gesture was appreciated by the lone passenger as he stepped out. The now fourteen year old Shinji looked up into the sky, shielding his eyes from the light with his hand.

Casting a glance around, he could see no one in the station or in the streets just outside of the station. Calmly walking out of the station and out into the middle of the street, he cast another glance around the streets. When he could still see no one around, he let out a low whistle.

"Well, this city looks dead to me. Isn't this a pretty picture that just fills a person with confidence." Shinji said with a smirk.

-scene change-

Misato drove her car like a mad woman through the cleared streets. Nervously she looked down at her G.P.S. tracker to see her location and where to go next. Catching a glimpse of the picture of her passenger-to-be, she sighed to herself. Why couldn't they have gotten her a more recent picture then one from his fourth birthday. That cute little party hat nearly covered his hair completely, and his eyes were tightly shut as he grinned wide into the camera.

"Oh man, why did I have to lose him at a time like this? What's the commander going to do when he finds out that I'm late to pick up his son in the middle of an angel attack! I'm going to get fired for sure!" Misato exclaimed to herself. "I sure hope the area he's in is already evacuated, because this picture does squat to help me tell what he looks like, ten years after it was taken!" Misato mumbled loudly to herself in frustration.

The car took another insanely tight turn around a corner, nearly putting it up on two wheels.

-back at the train station-

"We're sorry, but due to the special state of emergency, all lines are unavailable until further notice. Please hang up and try again at another time." came the feminine voice of the machine on the other end of the phone.

Shinji rolled his eyes at this and hung the phone up.

"Well, that just sucks doesn't it... Oh well, can't call my ride." Shinji said as he shrugged.

Shinji pulled out the picture that Misato had sent him and stared at it one more time. It showed Misato in some very relaxing clothing, leaning over and giving the peace sign. The writing on it said that she would meet Shinji at the train station, and to wait for her. The last note on it told him to check out her cleavage, something that was well shown off with the angle she was bent at. Again Shinji's eyebrow raised and his smirk grew slightly as he did just as the note told him to do.

"Well, at least not everything was a total waste in coming here. Maybe I'll get lucky and get to hang around this babe for a while before I consider splitting." Shinji said with a confident smile.

Looking up Shinji glanced at the streets again. This time he spotted something interesting. A young girl with blue hair and red eyes stared at him from across the street. Her stare was blank and her eyes lifeless, but most interesting to Shinji, was the fact that she had no shadow. A flock of birds suddenly took off over head with a gust of wind, crowing and cawing for all they were worth, but Shinji didn't move his eyes. The girl vanished into thin air before Shinji's eyes.

"Well, maybe things will be interesting around here after all." Shinji said with his smirk returning full force.

Just then the ground shook lightly, and the wires of the telephone and electric cables whipped about wildly. Again the ground shook, this time with an audible 'thoomp' from the distance. Again the ground shook and the sound came, now obviously from behind a large hill in the distance.

Shinji looked with curiosity as a giant creature the size of a sky scraper came walking out from behind the hill, with several VTOL's buzzing around it like bees. The creature was ugly, with a black body, green shoulder plates, a red orb in the center of its chest surrounded by ribs sticking out, and a bone face like that of some kind of bird with empty eye sockets. It made no sounds other then the thunderous footsteps as the VTOL's swarmed around it firing all their weapons.

Their weapons did no good as they were stopped by a glowing field of colors that only appeared as something impacted against it. Still, the VTOL's fired on, doing no good against the giant creature. A huge cruise missile flew only a hundred feet above Shinji's head as it curved around a building down the street and flew straight at the creature. It too impacted against the field and did no good as the explosion was shielded against by the field protecting the creature. Shinji let out another low whistle at the sight.

"Wow, now that's a big ugly mug that only a mother could be proud of." Shinji said with his smirk unaffected.

The creature seemed to look up and for the first time, taking notice of the many VTOL's attacking it with as much effect as a bee against a tank. Focusing its almost curious gaze on the nearest VTOL, it reached its arm out as if to grab it. Its arm wasn't quite long enough to reach the craft, but it seemed unaffected by such petty details. A huge energy lance shot out of its palm and impaled the VTOL, sending it crashing to the ground just a few hundred meters in front of Shinji.

Only now did Shinji's smirk disappear, replaced by a frown as his eyes went cold.

"Now that wasn't very nice. Why is the military even bothering with attacking this creature with such ineffective weapons anyways?" Shinji questioned himself.

The creature floated up for a moment, before coming down on the VTOL with one of its feet. The craft exploded in a giant fireball, but the flames never reached Shinji. A blue car screeched its way into the path of the explosion and blocked Shinji's body from the heat and debris. Misato quickly rolled down the passenger window.

"Hey, sorry I'm late! Hop in!" she called out the window.

Shinji took her advice literally as he smirked and grabbed the roof, using it for leverage as he swung his legs and body into the car and landed neatly in his seat. Buckling up quickly, Shinji barely finished before the car took off like a bullet away from the creature's stomping feet. Shinji turned and grinned widely at Misato as soon as they were clear of the danger.

"Nice to finally meet you. And would you mind if I just say... What took you so long!" Shinji exclaimed loudly with his smirk returning.

"Uh, well... I uh... hey, what are you questioning me for? You should be thanking me for saving your life you little..." Misato suddenly stopped talking as she took a good look at Shinji for the first time.

Shinji was in no way little. From what she could tell from looking at him sitting down, he should stand at five feet and seven inches, rather tall for a fourteen year old. Yet his larger size didn't come from his height, but from his well built figure. From what she could tell, he looked like he had been working on a heavily athletic body build, one that was well muscled, but not overly so.

He wore a near body length red trench coat that had only the top of the two buckles done. Beneath the trench coat was a black shirt that was tight on Shinji's chest, showing his figure. The shirt met with the brown heavy duty jeans that were somewhat baggy, but managed to show a bit of muscled leg here or there. The jeans were tucked into loosely tied heavy duty black boots. Also his hands were covered in black fingerless gloves with metal knuckle studs.

A gleam caught Misato's attention and brought it to his neck. Around his neck was a gold necklace with a red gem in the center of it. Looking up from it Misato examined Shinji's face. It showed no signs of pimples or other imperfections that came with puberty, but instead it had only hardened features as if he had already gone through all the developments needed. His dark blue eyes gleamed with confidence that practically oozed out at her. The only thing that matched his confident eyes was his equally confident smirk. Finally his head was topped off with a brown mop of hair that barely hung down enough to get in the way of his eyes, yet the bangs parted just perfectly to never get in his way or get in his eyes.

"Well, are you done looking me over like I'm a piece of meat?" Shinji asked with a bit of a laugh.

"What? No! I mean, uh, are you really Shinji Ikari?" Misato finally asked.

"Last time I checked." Shinji said as he gave himself a quick glance over, pretending to check and see if he was still himself. "Yeah, I'm Shinji Ikari." Shinji said with his smirk showing a bit of playfulness.

"The Commander's son?" Misato asked, still finding it hard to believe that this young man was the same Shinji she was sent to pick up.

Immediately Shinji's happy playful expression dimmed to a darker more serious look as his eyes instantly hardened.

"Yes and no." Shinji said with a frown, his voice lowered and slightly angry.

"What do you mean by that?" Misato asked, suddenly finding herself nervous.

"I mean that he was my father when I was born, but he isn't any more. I've abandoned him the same way he abandoned me, in mind and in body, washing all presence of him out of me and my life." Shinji said darkly, before casting his gaze out the window and letting out a deep sigh.

"Oh, bad subject I guess..." Misato said, giving a small nervous laugh.

They drove like that for a few minutes before Shinji gave a bored sounding grunt.

"Man this awkward silence bit sucks. How about this... You ask me a question and I'll ask you a question." Shinji suggested, wanting to have something to do other then observe Misato's maniac like driving habits.

"Okay... Hmm, a question huh... Alright, are you really fourteen years old? Because you look like you're almost eighteen." Misato got off her chest.

"Yeah, I'm fourteen. Why? Is there something you had in mind that required me being eighteen, hmm?" Shinji asked with his smirk returning once again.

"Huh? Oh shut up you! You know, you're not as cute as I expected..." Misato accused as she stuck her tongue out at Shinji, taking her eyes completely off the road.

"What, like baby cute? Like this picture?" Shinji asked as he held up the picture of him at four years old, completely unfazed by Misato's suicidal driving.

"Well, uh..." Misato couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"Anyways, it's my turn to ask a question. How come the government is suddenly letting the military take on fighting demons?" Shinji asked curiously.

"Demons? You mean that thing back there? That was an angel." Misato said, somewhat confused by what Shinji asked.

Shinji leaned over, getting his face right in Misato's face as she still didn't look at the road. His eyes told of seriousness and playfulness at the same time.

"What do you think demons are? They're angels that have fallen into hell." Shinji said as he lightly flicked Misato's nose.

"Hey, I know that!" Misato said as she turned back to the road and rubbed her nose with her hand, deftly steering madly with her left hand. "It's just that they're designated angels. There's no such thing as real demons anyways." Misato said with some of her confidence back.

"Hey, I take offense to that." Shinji said suddenly, and none of his playfulness could be heard in his voice.

Misato decided to shrug that comment off for now, and ask about it later.

"Anyways, it's officially NERV's responsibility and duty to fight the angels. The UN is just taking their swing at things before handing over control of the operation to NERV." Misato explained.

"Right. In other words, their sending their soldiers out to their inevitable deaths against a foe they have no chance of hurting because someone high up is being stubborn. What ever..." Shinji muttered as the car came to a stop.

"Excuse me, I have to lean over you to see out the window." Misato said as she pulled out a pair of binoculars.

Shinji got a huge smirk at hearing that, and a gleam came into his eyes. "Sure Misato, go right ahead." Shinji said as he leaned back against his seat.

"Don't get any ideas." Misato muttered as she leaned over and began staring out the window.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Shinji said with a smile.

Misato watched as the VTOL's still tried to pound on the angel. They swarmed around like angry bees, pelting on the angel's AT-field. Suddenly they stopped firing, and took off like hell was on their heels. Just as Misato was trying to figure out why they acted that way, she spotted the one thing that explained that perhaps hell really was on their heels.

"Oh no! They're going to use an N2 mine! Get down!" Misato shouted.

She tried to tackle Shinji under her to cover him from the explosion. Instead she was forced down and felt a warmth cover her up just as the deafening bang erupted in the city by the hill they were on. The shockwave of the blast sent the small car rolling several times until it finally rested on its side. It took Misato a few more seconds to get her senses back in order after that.

Instead of having Shinji safely tucked under her body, she was pressed down into his lap, being held there so she wouldn't fall now that gravity was coming from the side and not from the floor. Her face was firmly held in Shinji's lap as his chest covered her and her upper back, while her breasts were pressed against Shinji's leg. Strangely, Misato felt rather safe in this awkward position.

"Don't get any ideas Misato." Shinji mockingly mimicked Misato's earlier command.

"Wouldn't dream of it..." Misato mumbled out, still lingering in her position for a few moments. 'Focus on the situation at hand. Focus on the situation at hand. Don't focus on where your hand is. Don't focus on where his hands are. Don't focus on where you want his hands...' Misato thought to herself.

Moaning lightly, wether out of frustration or something else she didn't know, Misato began to work her way out of Shinji's lap. Shinji graciously let her escape and helped her get her footing in the sideways car. When she was securely balanced, Shinji unbuckled and flipped himself out of the car easily through the open window.

"Here, let me help you out." Shinji offered as he held out his hands to Misato.

"And just what makes you think I need your help?" Misato asked.

"Well, I don't know, but I didn't figure you wanted to be in the car when I push it back over for you." Shinji said as he grabbed Misato's shoulders and lifted her gently out of the car.

"And why do you think I need your help flipping my car over?" Misato asked.

"Well, you're welcome to try on your own if you like." Shinji offered.

Misato did just that, as she began to push on the roof of her car. It wouldn't budge under her strength, but she kept trying anyways. She continued on for nearly a minute before Shinji gently pulled her arm away from the car.

"You're going to get all sweaty like that, and I don't want to have to ride with a stinky attractive woman. I much prefer the way you smell right now. Let me do it instead." Shinji offered.

"Fine, whatever. Give it a shot if you think you can do any better then me." Misato offered, even though she was eyeing his muscles like she knew that he could do better in strength then her.

Shinji reached over with one hand and gave what looked like a gentle shove, immediately pushing the car over and onto its wheels. Misato gaped at the ease that Shinji displayed at that. Before she could say anything, Shinji got behind the car and rested on it.

"Well, I'll admit it Shinji, you're useful for something after all." Misato finally said.

"You're about to find out another way that I'm useful." Shinji said, his voice sounding oh so slightly suggestive.

"Oh yeah? And just what are you doing now?" Misato found herself asking, only letting her thoughts wonder for a moment.

"Getting ready to push the car. The batteries look shot, so we'll have to get some new ones. Until then, I'll have to push the car so we can get to some." Shinji said as he leaned over and gestured at the driver's door with a grin. "Shall we go now, before they try that N2 mine thing again. I don't think the car can handle another tumble like that and still work..." Shinji offered.

"Yeah, alright, let's go then..."Misato mumbled as she got in the car and put it in neutral.

-NERV HQ, bridge-

"It must be dead! It took the full blast!" exclaimed one of the military commanders.

"External cameras online." one of the tech officers said calmly. "Target confirmed. It's still active."

"No way! That thing's a demon!" shouted another military commander.

Gendo only smirked at the military commanders inability to defeat the angel. Fuyutuski leaned in to speak privately with him, a smirk also decorating his face. His voice was filled with calm control, despite the apparently hopeless situation.

"And thus the military proves themselves helpless against the might of the angels." Fuyutuski spoke with a bit of victory detectable in his voice.

"Yes. Soon they will turn authority over to NERV, as they must. We will destroy the angel with the Evangelion." Gendo spoke with a bit of smugness to his otherwise monotone voice.

"Yes, but we don't have any reliable pilots. Rei is in no condition to pilot successfully, and as for the Third... Can we really trust him when we have so little information on him?" Fuyutuski asked, a bit of worry entering his voice.

"Hmm, he will have to do. All he has to do is sit in the plug for the scenario to be carried out." Gendo said, his voice going back to its emotionless monotone.

"Yes, but isn't it worth worrying about at least some? After all, his teacher was found murdered brutally only hours after you left him. He never even left the train station before dying. Shinji hasn't been seen or heard of by anyone since then until a week ago. Isn't that worth considering in the scenario?" Fuyutuski suggested.

Gendo folded his hands in front of his face menacingly as light reflected off his glasses.

"The scenario will go as planned. Any deviations caused by the third's upbringing will be dealt with. If necessary, he can be replaced when it is more convenient." Gendo said in his monotone voice, as if referring to a cold cup of coffee being replaced with a fresh cup.

"Very well Ikari. Continue to keep the illusion of control." Fuyutuski said as he leaned back.

"Control is only an illusion for those who have not prepared." Gendo ended their conversation.

-back in the car-

'Aw man, I just had this car repaired and now it's a total wreck!' Misato thought to herself in depression.

"Uh, Misato..."

'I still have thirty-three more payments on this thing too!' Misato continued to think. 'Not to mention the cost of repairs!'

"Uh, Misato...!"

'And my favorite dress is ruined! I looked so good in this dress too! Just when I have someone to show off to too! No Misato! Bad thoughts! He's still just a kid, no thoughts like that. No thoughts about Shinji. No thoughts about...'

"Misato!" Shinji exclaimed louder.

"Shinji!" Misato yelped out in surprise. "I mean, uh, what!" Misato exclaimed as she stuck her head out the window.

"Now that we got some fresh batteries in the car, can I stop pushing it now. It might be faster getting there you know." Shinji said as he continued to push the car forwards.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Go ahead and get in now." Misato said with a smile and a wink as she stuck her head back in the car. 'Oops.'

Pulling out her cell phone, she started up the car and immediately reeved off just as Shinji got in the door. Dialing up a familiar number she waited until they picked up.

"Hello. Yes, don't worry. Everything's alright now. We're coming in now, so could you have a car train ready for us. An express of course. Well I did volunteer to pick him up, so it's only my duty to make sure he gets there safely. Yes alright, see ya!" Misato said as she hung the phone up.

Minutes later they pulled up to the train station and loaded the car onto the express train. Sitting back Misato relaxed into her chair for a bit. A calm quite fell over the car for a minute before something important popped into Misato's mind.

"Hey Shinji, did you get any kind of identification?" Misato asked.

"Yeah, hold on." Shinji said as he searched the inner pockets of his trench coat, before finally pulling out some papers. "Here you go."

"Thanks. Here you go, read this for a bit." Misato said as she handed over a NERV manual.

"NERV huh, doesn't sound too big." Shinji said to himself with a chuckle.

"It's a secret organization run by the UN. It's bigger then you think." Misato said as she looked up at the ceiling of her car.

"You think so huh. Well, whatever. It's not like I care anyways. If the old man wants to think he's big, then I won't rock his boat just yet." Shinji said as he tossed the manual in the back and leaned back as well.

"Do you even know what your father does?" Misato asked.

"He's not my father anymore, or did you forget?" Shinji growled suddenly.

"That reminds me, what do you mean you washed all presence of him out of you?" Misato asked.

"I mean that I had all of his DNA removed from my body and replaced with something stronger." Shinji responded as if he didn't care, staring up at the ceiling too.

"Are you serious? You could do that?" Misato asked, a little shocked.

"Yup. Don't get me wrong, it hurt like hell, in more then one way, but it was more then worth it." Shinji said with a smirk again.

"Wow... sometimes I wish I could do that." Misato mumbled to herself.

"Yeah, well, be careful what you wish for when you don't know the whole story. I paid a price, but I'm more then happy with it. Not everyone would be comfortable with what I sacrificed and what I gained, or even consider it. As for me, I'm happy with it." Shinji said with a bit of a far off smile.

"Oh yeah, and what did you sacrifice?" Misato asked.

"Part of my humanity." Shinji answered calmly. "But as I said, I replaced it with something stronger, and I still have some of my humanity." Shinji finished with his smirk back at full force.

Just then the train came out and into the Geo-front. Misato yawned and looked over to examine Shinji's reaction. To her surprise, Shinji took it all quite well, as he almost seemed to be expecting to see a Geo-front. This made her just a bit curious.

"Hey, you know, most people are at least a little shocked or awed to see a real live Geo-front in full operation." Misato prodded.

"Meh, you seen one underworld, you've seen 'em all. This one just looks prettier then most." Shinji said as he shut his eyes to catch a quick nap.

'He's nuts, right?' Misato thought to herself as she stared at him for a minute.

-later, NERV transits-

"What in the hell! Isn't this the way?" Misato exclaimed as they came to another doorway that wasn't where she wanted to be.

Shinji stood behind her, glancing around as they stood on the transit moving all about NERV. This may not be the official tour, but he might as well make use of the time to memorize his way around. Just then the door opened and the wind rush pushed the back of Misato's skirt up just as Shinji looked her direction. The eyeful he got was pleasing to him.

"It's because of these things that I hate to wear skirts around here." Misato commented.

Letting out a wolf whistle Shinji commented. "That may be, but can I request you do it as often as possible while around me?" Shinji asked as he savored the sight he had seen.

"Oh, shut up you! I'm not used to this place yet! Where's Ritsuko?" Misato exclaimed as she looked around.

"Who cares! Let's pass by this place a few _more_ times before we get on the right track!" Shinji encouraged.

"Shut up!" Misato shouted.

Just then an elevator opened up next to them as they were about to pass it _again_. Ritsuko stood with an annoyed look to her face as she stared the frustrated Misato down. Misato suddenly got nervous and embarrassed.

"Yahoo! Another good looking woman to walk around with! Care to join us miss?" Shinji offered with a big grin.

That threw Ritsuko off her game for a moment as Misato took advantage of her distraction and quickly entered the elevator. Shinji followed and the elevator started again, thanks to Shinji quickly pressing a few random buttons with a grin.

"What the-? Misato what is going on? Are you wasting my time again? You know we're low on manpower." Ritsuko exclaimed.

"Eh, sorry Ritsu..." Misato said apologetically.

"Well, don't worry, because I've got enough manpower to spare!" Shinji said before striking a quick pose of a muscle man.

"And you! You little prankster! We're too low on time to play your little games. Quit that posing at once!" Ritsuko demanded.

"Alright, alright. Just joking around." Shinji said with his hands up in a submissive gesture.

"Well, it seems that the first button you pressed is the floor we want anyways. Now Misato, is this the boy?" Ritsuko asked, able to get back into her serious flow again.

"Yeah, according to the Marduk report, he's the Third." Misato answered.

"Third? Third what? Third... walrus?" Shinji asked.

"What? No! Third Child. I'm Ritsuko Akagi, nice to meet you." Ritsuko said as she extended her hand to Shinji.

"I assure you, the great pleasure of meeting you is all mine." Shinji said as he bowed and accepted her hand, giving it a gentle kiss.

"Hey, how come you didn't give me such a nice hello?" Misato asked.

"Maybe because there was a giant demon stomping around us the whole time?" Shinji suggested.

"It's an angel." Misato responded.

"You call 'em what you want to, I'll call 'em as I see them." Shinji said before suddenly leaning towards Misato, nearly pinning her against the elevator wall. "Besides, if you really want that kiss, I'll give it to you now if you want..." Shinji offered.

"No thanks." Misato responded.

"Alright." Shinji said as he immediately pulled back.

"Hmm, reminds me of someone back in college." Ritsuko commented.

"Yeah, but Shinji actually takes no for an answer." Misato answered.

"I feel a little out of the loop here." Shinji commented.

Ritsuko took a better look at Shinji now, comparing him to the one she was thinking of. She had to admit, Shinji was nothing like she expected. In fact, he was far from what she had thought he would be. Not to mention he dressed so much differently then she thought he, or anyone in Tokyo-3, ever would.

"Isn't that trench coat hot?" Ritsuko asked.

"Hot?" Shinji asked.

He seemed to think this over for a moment. After another moment, he rubbed his chin, then he began to chuckle. Finally he started to giggle and chuckle in a way that made the two women a bit nervous, like he had gone insane. He seemed to be enjoying some great inside joke that they weren't in on. Finally he let out a few outright laughs before finally calming down.

"No doctor, there isn't much that can make me feel hot temperature wise anymore." Shinji answered with another chuckle.

With that the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Not wasting time, and feeling a little nervous around Shinji, Ritsuko quickly got off and began to stride purposely down the hall. Misato and Shinji followed closely behind, Misato because she didn't want to get lost again, and Shinji because he thought that they were suppose to go with her, and a little because he wanted to enjoy the view for a moment. Before he could get any good looks at the 'scenery' that the two women offered, they entered another elevator. Shinji snapped his fingers and grinned a little in disappointment before getting on with them.

"What's the matter Shinji?" Ritsuko asked as she noticed this.

"Oh, just trying to figure out why I'm called the 'Third Child' is all. Is this some kind of super secret organization that takes in teenage children and mutates them into super warriors capable of flight and super powers and taking on giant demons?" Shinji asked with a grin.

"Eh, not quite no. It's true, this organization is charged with fighting the angels, but we don't make super heroes. It is also true that only special few children are able to fight against the angels too, but not like that, no." Ritsuko answered.

"Ah, so... no super powers for me huh...?" Shinji asked.

"No Shinji, no super powers for you." Misato finally said.

"Oh well, I like my current powers just fine thank you." Shinji said with a knowing grin.

"Oh, and what are those? The power to annoy people with stupid questions?" Misato asked.

"Nope. It's the power to see through women's clothing." Shinji said with an even bigger grin.

Both women tried to take a step backwards against the elevator wall as Shinji began to stare at them, hard. With another grin Shinji began to laugh until he finally stopped staring at them. Turning around to stare into the glass with the pink liquid behind it, he began to settle into another chuckle.

"Just kidding ladies, I can't see through your clothes. Although, thank you Ritsuko for wearing that nice tight one piece swim suite under your lab coat, and thank you Misato for wearing that nice tight dress. It looks very good on you." Shinji said with his smirk returning full force.

"You little piece of-!" Misato exclaimed in frustration, barely able to keep herself from smacking Shinji.

Shinji grinned and continued to stare out the glass into the pink liquid. Misato took a calming breath before looking over at Ritsuko. Ritsuko just stood there, a small pink blush detectable on her cheeks.

'Well, I got to give the kid some credit...' Ritsuko thought to herself. 'He's definitely better looking then his father.' Ritsuko thought as she gave Shinji another once over, carefully observing the muscles that were showing.

"Hey Ritsuko, as soon as all of this is over, I want you to run a few tests on Shinji's DNA." Misato said softly to Ritsuko, trying to keep Shinji from hearing.

"What do you mean?" Ritsuko asked.

"She means that she wants you to confirm that I'm actually Shinji Ikari. She means that I've told her that I've had all evidence of my former father's DNA removed from my body, and had it replaced with something stronger." Shinji said coldly, sending a shiver down Misato's spine.

"You're not serious are you? It's impossible to do such a thing. You can't just _remove_ a part of your DNA code." Ritsuko said suddenly.

"Run a test for yourself some time Doctor. The procedure was not without its... sacrifices, but they were worth it. I now have no more connection to my former father then name, and that belongs to my mother." Shinji said darkly.

"And would you care to explain this 'procedure' that you used to remove part of you DNA code?" Ritsuko all but demanded, feeling a bit insulted that Shinji would challenge her knowledge of medical science.

"Would you care to explain how you expect me, and two other 'children' to fight off a giant demon?" Shinji said coldly back.

Ritsuko paused in her response, before visibly attempting to calm herself. She shut her eyes for a few moments and tried to slow her breathing. When she opened her eyes again, she was all cold business, as she would have to be around Gendo in his more 'darker' moments.

"That will all be explained at the proper time Shinji." Ritsuko said with a voice of authority.

Turning to face Ritsuko now, Shinji pierced her with his cold gaze, managing to send more of a chill down her spine then Gendo ever could.

"Then I too will explain everything when the time is right. Until then, we will both have to have patience, right Doctor Akagi?" Shinji asked before gazing out into the glass again.

"Very well then." Ritsuko answered, trying hard not to let her voice waver as the shiver in her spine wouldn't let up.

"Uh..." Misato began, feeling extremely nervous in the freezer that the elevator was becoming with all the cold stares and tension in the air. "So... how's Unit One coming?" Misato finally asked Ritsuko.

"It's currently undergoing refrigeration using the B-type equipment." Ritsuko answered, at last letting her voice calm back down into a civil tone.

"Does it really work? It's never worked before has it?" Misato asked.

"The possibility of activation is 0.0000000009. Around here we just call it the '09 system.'" Ritsuko replied.

"Does that mean it doesn't work?" Misato asked carefully.

"Don't be insulting. It's 09, as in a Japanese Devil." Ritsuko replied.

That comment seemed to bring out another nerve wracking chuckle from Shinji as he seemed to be in on an inside joke they didn't know about.

"Uh... right, well, I suppose it's a little late to be saying 'sorry, it doesn't work!'" Misato said with a nervous chuckle.

The elevator came to a stop and they exited it. Going through a door, they made their way to a boat floating on the pink liquid. Shinji gave another look at the pink liquid, before getting in the boat with the women. Soon the boat took them to yet another door. They walked through, as the light was out in the next room, but they were obviously on a cat walk.

Suddenly the door behind them shut, leaving them in complete blackness as they were in the middle of the catwalk. The darkness didn't alarm Shinji, as he was quite comfortable in it. Patiently he waited for them to turn the lights on. Then, in a sudden flash, the lights were on and he found himself staring eye to eye with a giant purple armored face.

"Hmm..." Shinji hummed to himself for a moment. "That's a mighty big Lego toy you got there girls." Shinji finally said.

"That's no Lego toy Shinji. This is man's ultimate fighting machine, the synthetic life form known as Evangelion, Unit One. Built here in secret, it's mankind's last hope." Ritsuko said, excitement as detectable in her voice as a flame in a dark room.

"No, it's a giant Demon that you built yourself, just like the one outside stomping around. Is this bucket of bolts and unintelligent flesh what that old man Gendo has been working on all these years?" Shinji asked.

"Correct." came Gendo's booming cold voice from above.

Looking up, Shinji immediately locked eyes with Gendo's glasses, which shown with reflected orange light. The two stared each other down for a few seconds, a strange smirk of superiority on Gendo's face. Time seemed to freeze in the cage as they continued to match gazes.

"It's been a while." Gendo finally said, a smile appearing on his face.

"Yes, it has Gendo." Shinji answered.

"We're moving out." Gendo said, no longer looking at Shinji.

"Moving out? But Unit Zero is still in cryostasis... Wait a minute. You're going to use Unit One?" Misato asked in panic.

"There's no other way." Ritsuko responded coldly.

"No wait! Rei can't do it yet, can she? We don't have a pilot!" Misato shouted.

"We just received one." Ritsuko dead panned.

"You're serious!" Misato accused as if it were a crime.

"Shinji Ikari, you will pilot it." Ritsuko said to Shinji, who was still starring hard at Gendo.

"Fuck off." Shinji replied, never looking away from Gendo's gaze.

"What?" Ritsuko stumbled.

"He can't pilot anyways. Rei took seven months to synchronize with her Eva. There's no way he can do it!" Misato kept going.

"He just has to sit in the seat. We don't expect more then that." Ritsuko said, frustration building in her voice.

"I said... fuck off." Shinji growled.

"Listen you, defeating that angel is our top priority. If we have someone with even the slightest chance of synchronizing with the Eva, we have to take the risk. Do you understand that Shinji? Misato?" Ritsuko said, anger now evident in her voice.

"Y... yes, I understand." Misato finally gave in.

"I said..." Shinji began.

"Get in Shinji." Misato prodded.

"Fuck off!" Shinji shouted as he pulled a large silver pistol out of the back of his trench coat and shot it off at the ceiling.

Both girls let out a scream of surprise as they dived away from the gun-wielding Shinji. His eyes were filled with a cold anger as he stared at his father, his gun still pointed at the ceiling. Gendo didn't react at all, only hardening his gaze at Shinji.

"You know why you were called here." Gendo said, hoping to break Shinji's spirit. "I have a use for you." Gendo said coldly.

Shinji slowly put his pistol back into the trench coat behind him where no one had seen it. Still he held Gendo's cold gaze. A cold smirk crept onto his face as he stared at him, reviewing a few ways to kill him in a few seconds or less.

"Fuck you and your uses. What makes you think I care what you want?" Shinji asked.

"I am your father." Gendo said, now hoping to appeal to the little boy inside Shinji, make him look up to his father.

"No, you're not my father anymore. You gave up that right when you left me with that teacher. After he died, an hour later, I was set on a path where I eventually rid myself of all traces of you at all. Now I am of no relation to you at all, so don't call yourself that anymore old man. You're nothing to me anymore." Shinji said darkly.

Just then the ground shook some from a blast on the surface. Still Shinji and Gendo seemed unaffected by it. They continued to stare at one another for a moment longer, before Gendo made his choice.

"Fuyutuski." Gendo said as he activated the intercom.

"Yes." Fuyutuski answered.

"Wake up Rei." Gendo ordered coldly.

"Can we use her?" Fuyutuski asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"She's not dead yet." Gendo stated, a slight hint of anger to his voice.

"Understood." Fuyutuski said, disappointment in his voice now.

"Rei?" Gendo asked as her image appeared on the screens beside Gendo.

"Yes sir?" the injured girl asked.

"Our spare is unusable. You will do it again." Gendo ordered.

"Yes sir." Rei responded, no emotion detectable in her voice.

"Reconfigure Unit One for Rei, then activate. Let's move out!" Ritsuko commanded.

Soon the doors opened as a stretcher was wheeled in with the heavily injured Rei lying on it. They stopped her almost right in front of Shinji. Shinji looked down at the bloody and tightly bandaged girl who was trying to get up. Taking one look at her, Shinji snorted out loud.

"So, you intend to use her? You really are desperate Gendo if you would do something like this." Shinji said, laughing to himself the whole time.

He calmly walked over, standing himself in front of the struggling Rei. With a move of his arms, he pushed back the doctors until they got the hint and backed off. Then, acting in the blink of an eye, Shinji picked Rei up by her arms and held her tightly above his head.

"Regenerate." he commanded her in a cold voice that even froze the tone that Gendo was using.

"I...I, I can't." Rei whimpered.

"What good are you as a devil if you can't even heal yourself?" Shinji asked coldly.

"I...I can be replaced." Rei admitted weakly.

By now Misato was ready to try and make Shinji stop abusing Rei, but the thought of the gun he kept on him was stopping her. Shinji smirked darkly at Rei as he held her in the air. Putting her back on the stretcher, he forced her to lie back down.

"Stay down, or you'll just die. Trust me, they can't fully replace you, they would be different." Shinji said, some of the coldness gone from his voice.

Just then the ground shook again, and a beam came loose from the ceiling. It fell directly at Shinji and Rei, speeding down at them. Suddenly the Eva's hand broke free of its restraints and slapped the beam away, slamming it into the window that protected Gendo, causing it to shake violently as the beam bounced off and into the liquid below. Shinji grinned to himself at these events.

'So, some devils stick together eh?' Shinji thought to himself.

Ignoring the resulting fuss from Ritsuko and the maintenance crew present, Misato slowly walked to Shinji's side. Gulping on her nervousness, she spoke up finally.

"Shinji, it's time for you to face your fa... the commander. It's time for you to face why you came here." Misato tried to say.

"Bullshit Misato. I didn't come here to pilot the Eva, and I didn't come here to confront Gendo. So, don't try telling me to confront my fears or some shit. You're the only one who could possibly comprehend the kind of hell I've seen and confronted in my life, and you don't even know it. So, if you want me to go out and fight the demon inside the Eva, then just ask me. Don't try to guilt me into it, or force me into it. Just ask me to fight." Shinji said calmly, staring into Misato's eyes.

Misato stared back into his eyes for a moment. She didn't see hatred like when he looked at Gendo, or anger when they tried to tell him to get in the Eva. She didn't see any of the coldness from before, she just saw Shinji being serious with her and looking into the windows of her soul. Slowly she gulped, and then spoke.

"Please Shinji, would you go and fight for us and kill the angel?" Misato asked.

"Alright, I'll pilot the Eva." Shinji said, his happy smirk returning finally.

"Thank you." Misato said softly. "But, you can't go into the Eva with your gun." Misato said, wincing as she thought Shinji might get upset.

Smirking, Shinji took off his trench coat and handed it to Misato. "Hold this for me until I get back. Oh, and, you can have my guns if you can find them." Shinji said, his smirk turning playful.

"What?" Misato asked as she began to turn the trench coat inside out and back again, looking all over it and in it for the pistol. "Guns?" Misato asked as she could find no sigh of the pistol.

"Yup. The silver one is one of two twin pistols. The other one is black. Their names are Yui and Lady." Shinji said with a chuckle.

Misato continued to look through the trench coat for the weapons, still finding nothing as she spoke. "You named your pistol after your mother?"

"Yeah, the silver one. The black one, Lady, is named after Lady, because she's been like my second mother since I was taken in. Anyways, you won't find them in my trench coat." Shinji said, his smirk turning into a grin.

"Oh, and where are they then?" Misato asked.

"Like I said, you can take them if you can find them." Shinji said as he did a quick spin to reveal that they weren't stuffed in the back of his pants. "Search me if you want." he said, inviting Misato to do just that.

"Eh, Ritsuko?" Misato called out, now nervous. Thoughts of her hands roaming all over the now even more revealed muscular figure of the older looking fourteen year old in front of her clouded her mind and made her a bit warm. He definitely acted too much like Kaji for her tastes, or maybe just enough for her tastes.

"Just search him Misato. He can't take those pistols into the Eva." Ritsuko said as she came up behind Misato, just to watch for... scientific reasons.

"Alright. Turn around please..." Misato said quietly.

Shinji grinned once more and turned around.

"Raise your arms please." Misato asked.

Shinji raised his arms into the air in obedience. Misato quickly began to pat from the beginnings of his t-shirt sleeves down his shirt, all over the back of it to check for any kind of holsters. She didn't find any. Sighing to herself, she began to pat the sides of his pants, down his legs, back up the back, and finally on his butt. She didn't feel anything that told of a gun or holster. Again she checked around his feet to make sure he didn't have them in his shoes or something, and gave him another pat down just to make sure.

"Alright, turn around again." Misato said in frustration.

Shinji turned around, revealing that happy playful grin of his. Misato wanted to smack him one good for this. She started at his sleeves again, down the side, back up, and around to his neck. She felt tempted for a moment to begin squeezing that neck of his. Patting the front of his neck and down the chest, she knew she wouldn't find anything with the way the shirt showed off the impressive muscles of his chest. Again around the sides of his pants, on the shoes, and back up. She slowed down as she neared the groin of his pants, hesitating for a moment, before quickly patting it over to check for the weapons. She still didn't find anything.

"I can't find anything. You didn't... hide it inside of yourself Shinji?" Misato asked tentatively.

"Nope Misato. I sure didn't." Shinji said, his facing going serious for a moment.

"Alright, I can't find them. How can you hide two guns that large so easily?" Misato asked.

"My little secret. I can only assure you that I won't have them when I go into the Eva." Shinji finally said.

"Why you little shit! You could have told me that before!" Misato said, nearly slapping him.

"Well, you didn't ask if I had them on me. You just decided to search me. Besides, don't you feel better now that you know I'm not lying?" Shinji asked with a cheeky grin.

"Shut up and get in the plug." Misato said with a slight frown. To tell the truth, she did feel better, for more then one reason.

-minutes later, inside Unit One's plug-

Shinji sat in the plug, weird looking hair clips in his hair. He wasn't really paying attention to any of the babble that the techs were saying over the comm. That is until his ears picked up on something important sounding.

"Filling the plug." came a female voice.

"Filling the plug?" Shinji asked.

Looking down he saw some yellow liquid that looked a bit like urine and smelled like blood begin to fill the plug from the bottom up. Arching his eyebrow he instantly recognized the smell of blood, but it smelled different from the blood he was used to smelling. Something was different about it. That and the color didn't make him feel very comfortable.

"Could you stop using my plug like a giant toilet bowl please!" Shinji exclaimed.

"Shinji, that is LCL. It will oxygenate you blood directly once you have taken it into you lugs. It helps you synchronize with your Eva. Nobody's using your plug as a toilet." Ritsuko assured Shinji.

By then the LCL had gone over Shinji's head. Smirking, Shinji didn't breath it in. Seeing a small keyboard in the corner of his controls, Shinji opened up a text comm channel on the same channel they were on. Typing with incredible speeds with one hand, Shinji sent his response.

/**Doesn't mean that I have to actually breath the stuff. Nyaah!**/ Shinji sent over the text link.

"Real cute Shinji, but you'll have to breath sometime. You can't hold your breath forever." Ritsuko said with a triumphant smile.

/**And what makes you say that Doctor?**/ Shinji asked over the text link.

"Get over it Shinji! Don't act like a child. You're a boy you know!" Misato exclaimed, getting frustrated.

/**No one would know better then you after that nice little pat down you gave me Misato.**/ Shinji typed as he rolled his eyes and breathed out, then breathed in the liquid.

Surprisingly to everyone, he didn't cough as he took in the LCL and adapted to it like he was completely used to it. Though, few noticed fully as most were focusing on Misato's glowing face with the bright red blush she had. No one noticed the slightly jealous look on Ritsuko's face for a moment.

"Very well, now that we're done playing around like kids, shall we get ready for battle?" Ritsuko asked.

Again the techno babble began, and again Shinji ignored most of it. Only when the word 'synchronisation' came up did he pay attention.

"Pilot synchronisation at... Dr. Ritsuko? It says that his synch is at seventy-three percent..." the same female tech from before said in confusion.

"What? Impossible!" Ritsuko said as she began to check over the screens for herself.

"Heh, us devils like to stick together sometimes doc." Shinji said out loud, but was ignored by most.

"Harmonics seem normal. There are no disturbances..." the female tech said.

"Alright, then let's proceed. We'll determine the reason for his high synch later."

"Begin launch sequence!" Misato ordered.

More techno babble began, but Shinji ignored it once more. The Eva was moved to the launch pad, and the bridge waited in silence for the order to launch the Eva. There was a moment of hesitation before Misato spoke up.

"Can we really do this?" Misato asked, suddenly nervous again.

"Of course. If we do not defeat the angels, then we have no future." Gendo said with a smirk.

"Are you really sure Ikari?" Fuyutuski asked quietly beside Gendo.

"Misato?" Shinji asked suddenly.

"Yes Shinji?" Misato asked, looking up at the screen that had his face, he was staring back at her, a cold calm look in his eyes before he suddenly grinned.

"I'm ready for this. Launch me." Shinji said, his confident smirk and eyes returning full force, not a hint of fear in his face at all.

"Right Shinji." Misato said with a smile, suddenly feeling a bit better. "Launch Eva!" she shouted.

The Eva launched upwards like a rocket on the platform it stood on. Seconds passed like minutes for Misato as she kept her eyes focused on the image of Shinji's face. His smirk was still intact as he was focusing on what was outside the Eva. Heck, he looked like he was enjoying the g-forces being put on him, like it was some kind of roller coaster ride or something.

Finally the Eva reached the surface and stopped suddenly, the head of the Eva flipping upwards with the loss of momentum. Shinji hardly seemed effected as the locks quickly fell off the Eva, allowing it to go free. Now the real test would begin.

"Alright Shinji, I want you to just concentrate on walking for now." Ritsuko spoke calmly through the comm link.

"Alright, alright. I'll only walk for now." Shinji said with a smirk.

The angel was only a matter of blocks away, directly in front of the Eva, staring at it with what seemed to be a puzzled expression. Shinji smirked at it as he gave the Eva mental commands. The Eva's reaction time was as good as his own muscles, well, almost anyways.

'Walk, yeah right!' Shinji thought as his smirk grew slightly.

The Eva broke into a jog, hopping over the spare cord that had gotten in front of it when it had stopped. Ritsuko's eye twitched at seeing Shinji start at such a speed, while Misato only twisted her fingers, hoping they did the right thing. The Eva kept its jog up, and the angel went into a slow run to meet it in the middle.

As soon as the angel got within arms reach, it tried to reach out and grab the Eva, but Shinji ducked and twisted down, avoiding its high grab. When the angel tried to bring its arms down on the Eva, Shinji lunged up and grabbed its right arm and positioned himself under its shoulder. Suddenly he shifted his weight and tossed the angel in a judo throw over his shoulder and down to the ground.

The angel wasn't dazed at all as it grabbed his feet, pulling him down to the ground suddenly. It rolled so that it came over the Eva, and grabbed it by the face. Quickly the angel stood up and held the Eva into the air by its head, grabbing it's left arm as fast as it could. Shinji kicked out and tried to knock its legs out, but the angel stood firm. The angel quickly squeezed as hard as it could on the Eva's left wrist, inflicting pain on both the Eva and Shinji.

"Relax Shinji, it's not your real arm." Ritsuko tried to assure Shinji.

"Who's upset at a little pain?" Shinji asked.

The angel twisted hard on the wrist and broke the Eva's arm. Shinji kicked out again and wrapped his leg around one of the angel's legs, pulling it back so the angel fell into the splits almost on top of the Eva. Unfortunately the angel didn't let go of the Eva's head as it fell, so it still had it by the face. The angel quickly charged its energy piston and pounded on the Eva's face as hard as it could. Shinji tried to force it to let go with his right arm, but the angel kept slamming the piston into the Eva's right eye.

Shinji punched out and nailed the angel in its core, causing pain to the angel as it suddenly realized the Eva was more of a threat then previously thought. With that, the angel stood quickly, twisted its body, and slammed the piston into and through the Eva's eye and out the back of its head, sending the Eva to smash into a building. The piston withdrew as blood began to squirt out the Eva's head from both sides and the Eva slumped.

"Unit One has gone completely silent!" a tech shouted.

"Eject the plug and save the pilot!" Misato shouted.

"We can't! It's not accepting our commands!" the female tech shouted.

"What!"

"The Eva is activating!" the first tech shouted.

-inside Eva Unit One's plug-

Shinji sat in the slumped position that the Eva was in. His eyes were shut and he moaned lightly in pain. The angel had seriously hurt his Eva, but he was far from done. To him, the Eva was still a demon, like him. So, he could control it better then anyone, and he knew things about it no one else could know. Raising his head to stare at the angel, the Eva followed his actions. A growl escaped his lips as he looked at the slowly approaching angel.

"Alright you big ugly devil you. It's time that I stop kidding around and get serious!" Shinji shouted. "Ahhh!" he let out a shout suddenly.

Suddenly, as he shouted, his body changed. His clothes faded in the blink of an eye to be replaced with a hard, armored looking body in a mimicking design to his outfit with the trench coat. Large demonic wings sprout from his back and his body bulged with more muscle then before, and his hands and feet almost became full claws. His face changed to what could only be described as that of an angry demon, not too unlike the Eva's face plate with out the horn. His hair stuck up like he had been shocked with electricity, and his eyes shown with a dark red light of anger, hatred, and power.

His shout became a heavy growl in a demonic voice that filled the entire plug as heat and electricity traveled along his body.

"The Eva is activated, but I can't get anything on the status of the pilot. It's not accepting any of our commands. It's cutting us off!" the female tech shouted.

"No! It can't be!" Misato exclaimed.

"Berserker." Ritsuko said in a breathless voice.

Gendo grinned under his hands at this.

"Wait! I'm getting footage from the plug. Putting it up now!" the first tech shouted.

Suddenly the entire bridge could see clearly what Shinji had become, but none could believe what they were seeing. Shinji had become a beast, or a monster, or a demon. What had happened to him while they had been out of contact?

"Alright demon, it's time we fought devil to devil!" Shinji shouted in a distorted version of his voice.

The Eva's jaw broke free of the lock that kept it shut. It let out a growl much like Shinji's own growl of anger. Its left eye flashed yellow as the Eva stood suddenly. The Eva suddenly launched itself forwards in a sprinting run for the angel. Half way there, it jumped up and slammed into the angel, tackling it to the ground as it wrapped its legs around the angel's waist.

The angel struggled to push the Eva off, but Shinji wouldn't have any of it as he held on tightly. The Eva began to pound down on the core, but the angel acted quickly to stop that. It charged both its lances and wrapped its hands on the Eva's waist. Energy lances pounded into the Eva's armor, stabbing into it deeply, drawing blood to flow from the stomach.

Shinji shrugged off the pain and the Eva held its left arm up. Suddenly the Eva regenerated from the damage that had been done to it. Grabbing the angel's arms, the Eva forced them to the ground above the angel's head. With a horrible squeeze and twist of his wrists and hands, Shinji broke the angel's forearms so badly that they nearly ripped off the angel's arms completely.

Light started to build in the angel's eyes. Shinji recognized what was happening immediately, and brought his forearm down on the angel's face quickly, nearly knocking its head off its chest as it forcefully twisted it to the right. A split second before the angel fired a cross flare, Shinji suddenly rolled the Eva's waist back into the path of the beam.

For a moment the bridge wondered why Shinji took the blast when he had already avoided it. Suddenly information that the Eva sent came up on the bridge's screens. Half a mile away was the life signs of a little girl hiding in front of a building. The blast would have vaporized her had the angel fired without the Eva in the way. Misato gasped at seeing this, realizing that despite Shinji's demonic appearance, there was still something human left in him.

"No you don't you devil!" Shinji shouted as he untwisted himself from the angel and stood tall.

Twisting the Eva's body, Shinji tossed the angel in the opposite direction of the girl. Charging after it, the angel almost had time to stand before the Eva football tackled the angel into a string of buildings, actually moving them back rather then knocking them over. Pounding on the core again, Shinji suddenly demonstrated his devil side again as the Eva bent down and bit deeply into the angel's face, drawing a gusher of blood into the air.

The angel suddenly wrapped itself tightly in a ball around the Eva's face. The bridge began to panic and scream things, just as Shinji shouted and the Eva roared. A bright explosion blinded the cameras for a few moments, before they could see the giant cross shaped explosion that lit the sky. Still the fires remained even as the cross faded, turning that crater into a pit of hellfire.

"Is the pilot?" Misato started to ask.

"Status of the Eva confirmed. It survived. Visual coming up now." another tech stated.

An image of the Eva walking out of the fires came up in the screen. It's wounds were regenerated, it's face plate burned off, its chest armor twisted and melted, and the armor on its arms burned off. Not a wound appeared anywhere on the Eva as it walked through the hellfire towards the camera. As they saw it, its left eye glowing yellow, and its right eye shining green in the fire, and they looked at the image of the demonic pilot sitting in the plug with a dark grin on his face, they couldn't decide who looked more like a demon out of hell.

"Shinji?" Misato asked tentatively, scared at his appearance.

"Yes Misato..." Shinji said as his body changed back and his clothes reappeared in the blink of an eye.

"I'm a demon, or rather... I'm a half demon. No longer am I the son of Gendo, but I am now the son of Sparda, with his demonic blood flowing through my veins. My mother's human blood also flows through me, so I have not abandoned my humanity completely. You might be afraid of what I am, but please don't be afraid of _me_." Shinji pleaded in a calm voice.

"I...I, I'm not afraid of you. I just want to know how..." Misato finally said.

"Don't worry. I'll explain everything when I get back in. See you then." Shinji said as he headed for a recovery point.

Gendo frowned at this behind his closed hands. Fuyutuski had a shocked look on his face. Ritsuko and the bridge looked confused, and maybe a little scared. Slowly Fuyutuski leaned forwards until his head was beside Gendo's.

"And what plan do you have for this now Ikari?" Fuyutuski asked, his grin only partly returning.

"This will be dealt with if necessary. Until this presents a real problem, we will leave this matter be. As long as he can still pilot, no actions will be taken." Gendo spoke emotionlessly.

"But the scrolls mentioned nothing of demons interfering with the battle with the angels... The Council won't like this one bit." Fuyutuski said as his grin started to return fully.

"It doesn't matter. They will have to cope with this. The scenario will not be changed." Gendo stated as if it were the law of the universe.

"I hope you know what you are doing Ikari. Who knows if we can deal with a war against heaven _and_ hell at the same time..." Fuyutuski said as he leaned back.

Gendo only smirked.

-To Be Continued-


	2. Legend of Sparda l Roommate From Hell!

**Devil Never Cries**

By: Andross937

disclaimer: Neither Neon Genesis Evangelion, nor Devil May Cry belongs to me in any way. I claim no ownership over either, and am making no profit from this story. The sole purpose for me writing this story is my own personal enjoyment, and so that others may possibly take some enjoyment from it as well. If the owners of either Neon Genesis Evangelion or Devil Man Cry wish it, I will remove this story from the internet completely. If someone is seriously offended by the material in this story, I will take the story down and attempt to remove the offending material before reposting it. If it is impossible to remove the offending material, I will leave the story off the internet all together.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait for this update. I'm going into shoulder surgery in less then twenty-four hours, and I wanted to have chapter three done before I posted so that I would have a bit of a buffer while my shoulder heals. Thanks for all the great reviews! Each one was great and I thank you for them. I hope this chapter will answer some of your questions. Enjoy!

**SPOILER ALERT!** This chapter explains a lot of the back story, and contains many, many spoilers for all three Devil May Cry games. Though certain events have of course been properly altered thanks to Shinji's presence in the Devil May Cry time-line, they still give a basic idea of how they turned out in the games, and anyone that has not finished one of the games is going to come across spoilers. But as long as you're not too upset with knowing that (spoiler) the good guys win should be able to get through this rather painlessly. Hope I'm not ruining it for anyone, because these are really great games! Any ways, hope you enjoy my slight re-write of history.

-Chapter 2-

When Shinji exited the plug, he was met with the sight of Misato holding his red trench coat, Ritsuko, and several guards in suits. Smirking, he hopped down onto the catwalk with ease. Strolling forwards, he stopped when the guards almost reached into their jackets.

"What's with the suits?" Shinji asked.

"They're only here to escort you to the medical center with us Shinji. We want to get you checked out as soon as possible." Ritsuko assured.

"No, I meant why are they wearing suits? Isn't it kind of hot in those things?" Shinji asked.

"Heh, well, it looks more official this way Shinji." Ritsuko answered.

"Here's your trench coat back Shinji." Misato said as she handed the red coat over.

"Thanks Misato." Shinji said with another smirk as he put it on, once again completing his outfit.

-medical center, examination room 404-

"So, Shinji, you say that you are a half demon. Tell us how that happened. When you were born tests revealed that you were a normal human child." Ritsuko inquired.

Shinji sat on a table for patients to lay down on. Ritsuko was beginning to fill out some papers on a clip board, while starting up some recording cameras. Misato sat patiently in a chair by the door. As for the guards, they had already left, their presence only a formality.

"After Gendo left me at the train station with my teacher, we had to wait around to get a few things. It got dark quickly, and began to rain. We hadn't even left the train station before something attacked out of the shadows. It was a demon, and it had popped out of thin air as if breaking through glass. Before he could scream, my teacher was impaled on its scythe, and then he died.

"At first it was going to kill me too, but a sword impaled it before it could. I had been saved by _him_, the son of Sparda, Dante the demon slayer. He took pity on me, knowing I had no where to go if I had been under the protection of an old man. He took me in, and started to raise me like a little brother.

"He had just got done preventing a portal to hell from opening somewhere in America, and his shop was back there. He had come to Japan on a demon slaying job, and he took me back with him. He had also just got a partner, a woman, her name was Lady. She acted more like a big sister to me, but I think of her as a second mother.

"I lived with them for a almost a year, training with them in how to fight demons. While I was there, I also studied in the many books that Dante had in the back of his shop, and the books that Lady had from her dead father, who had become a devil himself through black magic. I found something interesting in my studies, but it was hard to understand. I brought it to Dante and Lady, and it shocked them. There was a way for me to forsake my father's blood and take on the blood of a demon. It detailed how to become a demon using the blood of another demon.

"I told Dante that I wanted this, but he tried to talk me out of it. We argued a lot for nearly two years, until he finally caved in. We made a deal for me to wait another year, and then he would help me become a half demon like him. I would loose all the blood of my father, but keep the blood of my mother.

"The next year went by almost in a flash, and I was finally ready. The reason he made me wait, was because there was an age limit of sorts. If it was done before a person was at least eight years old, then there was a chance the process could kill them. When it was safe, I went through the process. Dante also had to go through some pain, since he would be the source of my demonic blood. In the end, Dante and I took a week to recover from the procedure. He had given me the demon blood of his father, Sparda, the Legendary Dark Knight. In the process, we became sort of half brothers, as we had different mothers, but we both now had the same father.

"If anything, my training only became harder after that, but I kept up with it easy thanks to the blood of Sparda in my veins. Working with Dante, over the next two years, I made my own set of twin pistols and my own sword, and trained in them. We even stumbled upon a way to call upon them anywhere we were, no matter what, and have them vanish afterwards so we could call them from thin air, making them a part of us permanently." Shinji said, suddenly having huge twin pistols in his hands, the right one silver and the left one black.

Both had incredibly long barrels that stretched out farther then any handgun that either women had ever seen. The silver one in his right hand had an etching of a woman's face with a beautiful smile, caring eyes, and a short hair cut. The black one had an etching of a different woman's face with a confident smirk, happy eyes, and short eyes that spread out at the bottom.

"Wow..." Misato said as Shinji apparently finished his story.

"That's all... rather amazing. Hard to believe even..." Ritsuko admitted.

"Then you explain what I am and how I became what I am." Shinji challenged.

"Well Shinji, you can't really blame me for having a hard time believing your story. I mean... demons..." Ritsuko said, letting the sentence hang in the air.

"Oh, and you _don't_ have a hard time believing that there are _angels_ stomping around the city?" Shinji countered.

"Point taken." Ritsuko said.

"Oh yeah, and they're demons actually." Shinji added. "Their just a different kind then what I've seen or faced off against."

"Right... Well, their designation is angels, and only the commander can change that. I don't think he's going to change that any time soon." Ritsuko said.

"Fine, whatever." Shinji said rolling his eyes.

"Hey Shinji? You said you faced off against other demons. Tell us something about that." Misato asked.

"Alright, well, my first really big test and chance to face demons came about four years ago, when I was ten. I was good and used to my demon blood by then, as if I had always been that way. I was getting a little anxious as all we had been able to find business with lately were killing low level and rather weak demons lately. Even the strong ones were only one at a time, so there was little challenge. Then, Trish arrived, crashing into our shop while Lady was on a little mission in another part of the world.

"She told us that the demon Mundis was trying to open the gates to hell on an island. Lady couldn't make it in time, so Dante and I went with her. Dante treated the whole thing like a kind of graduation test for me, so we stuck together and he watched over me to grade me. We faced off against a rather large army of hundreds of demons, some strong, most weak but in groups.

"The only highlights were that any new weapons we came across I got to keep, and then when we faced off against a demon from a mirror, Dante's reflection. We fought him several times, until in the middle of a fight, I spotted his necklace. It was the same as Dante's.

"It turned out that the demon that we thought was just trying to copy Dante, was actually his twin brother Virgil, who Dante had fought before he found me and had been trapped in hell. He had mutated and changed, now being controlled by Mundis as a servant demon. We worked together, and managed to defeat him for good without killing him. We cut his connection to Mundis and knocked him out for a while.

"It was a little after that when Trish betrayed us, revealing herself as a devil working for Mundis. We half expected it, because she looked just like Dante's mother. She was a copy being used by Mundis to gain our trust..." Shinji paused for a moment to catch his breath.

No one noticed Ritsuko flinch at Shinji's last sentence.

"We spared her after she was beaten, and went to fight Mundis. He tried to use Trish as bait to kill us, but she threw herself in the way of Mundis' attack, nearly killing herself. Dante and I worked together and defeated Mundis, actually managing to kill him rather then just send him back to hell. Trish even managed to help us with the final blow.

"We got back to Virgil and brought him with us to Dante's shop. It took us nearly a week of containing him, having to work together to do so, but we found a way to free him from Mundis's mutations and free his mind again. He was... rather badly affected by the whole experience and left us to go into solitude to think about what had happened somewhere in Alaska. Only a year ago did he return, still a little distant to us, but changed from the evil demon he had been before. I can't even describe how happy Dante had been to see that.

"Then, just a few months ago, in Greece, a man tried to summon a demon army and open another gate to hell. Both Lady and Trish were on other missions, so Dante and I went to stop it. We were joined by Lucia, a decedent of a demon hunting clan. We worked together on that one, and agreed to split the weapons. I kept the Uzi's that we found, while Dante got everything else in exchange for the Cerberus devil arm, a weapon. Also, I exchanged my Ifrit, for his Beowulf. Anyways, in the end it turned out that Lucia was actually a half demon made by the man that sought to open the gates of hell, and he tried to use her against her will to do just that. Fortunately, Virgil showed up to help us out, and it made it a rather easy battle.

"We stopped him, and Freed Lucia. The portal opened anyways, but it was weakened. At first Dante was going to go through it and close it from the other side, but Virgil suggested a better idea. We worked together and shut the portal after defeating the few big demons that came out of it. Now that city is pretty much in waste, but rebuilding. Lucia still lives there, but occasionally works with us, and Virgil finally joined us fully as a brother and a partner in the business. He's even thinking of making his own set of pistols."

"Wow..." was all Misato could say. "Do you have any of those weapons with you?" Misato asked, curious.

"Yeah, I made all of my weapons a part of me and can call them up like my pistols." Shinji answered with a grin.

"Show us..." Ritsuko said, growing more curious.

"Alright..." Shinji said.

He put down his pistols on the bed before standing up. Turning to the bed, he began moving his hands like he was pulling weapons from their places in or on his coat, and weapons began to appear in his hands. First a sawed off double barrel shotgun, then a pair of Uzi's, then, to Misato and Ritsuko's amazement, a large grenade gun, then a weapon that Shinji called a needle gun for underwater. Finally Shinji pulled out something that fit over most of his arm, even bending at the elbow. It was incredibly strange looking, and the portion that fit over the hand looking like some kind of mutated head or face.

"That one's called Nightmare-beta. It was made in hell, and is kind of based off of the demon Nightmare. It fires lasers that bounce off things and of course damage whatever they touch. It's real strength comes from charging it up so it fires a bunch of powerful lasers that bounce everywhere at once. Just got to be careful that it doesn't hit something you don't want them to, like yourself. Nearly took off Dante's ear the first time I used it..." Shinji said before laughing at the memory. "It's a good thing that it's pretty hard to kill us demons." Shinji said with a chuckle.

With that Shinji began to pull out the melee weapons. First his sword, A long silver blade with a grey hilt that had a beautiful carving of a woman's smiling face in it, etchings of her hair flowing down the blade, stopping just before the tip. He didn't say its name yet. Then a sword he called "Alastor", it was long, dark colored, and had an occasional arc of electricity that almost looked purple. Next he pulled out a pair of gauntlets and greaves, both were a dark grey, almost black, covered in bright white lines that glowed a pure light. The greaves formed feet with claws on the end of the toes, while each gauntlet had a mouth with fangs over the fist. He called these weapons Beowulf. Finally Shinji pulled out a strange looking nunchuck-like weapon. It was a ring, with three blue rods with spiked edges at the end attached to the ring by chains. Shinji called it "Cerberus", because that was the name of the demon who's soul had taken the shape of the weapon itself, effectively it was the soul of the demon "Cerberus" who Dante defeated. Shinji said it had powers of Ice, which is why he liked it, balancing his weapons, with ice, lightning, and light. Indeed, the Cerberus was covered in a thin layer of frost, but the women didn't feel any chill coming from it.

"So, what's the name of your first sword?" Misato asked.

"Eva." Shinji answered.

"Excuse me?" Ritsuko asked.

"It was the name of Dante's mother. Trust me, I had no knowledge of the existence of the Evangelions until a few days ago." Shinji answered.

"A few days ago?" Misato asked.

"When I got the letter to come from Gendo, I was going to ignore it completely." Shinji started to explain.

"But then, I also got a picture of a beautiful woman saying she would pick me up at the train station. I figured that I didn't want to disappoint such a pretty woman, so I decided to come and find out what the old fart wanted." Shinji continued, making Misato blush. "I didn't want to come without any knowledge of what I was getting into, so we did a little research on the place that Gendo commanded, NERV, and his pet project, project E. The Evangelions." Shinji finished.

"So basically Section 4 is dragging their ass." Misato said flatly.

"Hey, don't be so hard on them. They were up against some very curious demons." Shinji said with a big grin.

"Shinji, you said that it's hard to kill demons like you. How hard would you say it is?" Ritsuko asked, getting her clipboard ready again.

"Here, let me show you..." Shinji said with a grin.

Picking up his sword "Eva", he held it out, then in a lightning fast move, he turned it on himself and impaled himself through his chest and out his back. Picking up his silver pistol, "Yui", he held it to his forehead and pulled the trigger three times, earning himself three bloody spots on his forehead. This of course earned screams and curses from Misato and Ritsuko. Shinji stood there afterwards, a grin on his face, blood on his forehead, and blood on his chest and back, and perfectly fine. He spun around a few times with the sword still sticking through him, chuckling the whole time.

"Would you like to see me with Alastor sticking through my back and out my chest too?" Shinji asked with a small laugh.

"Shut up you! You just scared the crap out of me!" Misato shouted, bopping him on the head with her fist.

"Well, it's nice to see that you care." Shinji replied.

"How is this possible!" Ritsuko exclaimed, walking all around him, looking closely at the stab wound with the sword still in it, and the spots on his forehead where the bullets hit. There weren't even holes there, just the spots of blood to show where the bullets hit.

"I'm a half demon remember? Not only that, but it's the blood of Sparda flowing through my veins. His power is so great that many demons have coveted it. He was able to single handedly beat back all the demons in the world and seal them in hell using just his sword, bearing his own name." Shinji said, still unaffected by the sword in his chest.

"Doesn't that hurt? And when did this whole 'Sparda' thing happen?" Misato asked.

"The stab only hurt when it happened, I don't feel a thing right now. And the 'Sparda' thing as you called it happened around two thousand years ago." Shinji answered.

"Hmm, and what happened to Sparda?" Ritsuko asked.

"He was a demon too, so he was sealed away in hell too. He went willingly in order to save the humans of Earth from the rule of the demons. Eva, his wife and Dante and Virgil's mother also sacrificed her life to seal the portal to hell." Shinji said, his voice going soft.

"Sorry to bring that up. Well, what's the prognoses Ritsu?" Misato asked.

"Well, he seems healthy, except the sword in his chest..." Ritsuko motioned towards the Eva.

"Oh..." Shinji said, realizing she wanted him to remove it. "You'll like this..." he said with a grin.

He grabbed the handle and pulled on the sword. It slid out of his chest easily, and there was absolutely no wound to show it had ever been there. It had bled only when he stabbed it in, and when he pulled it out. There wasn't even a cut in his shirt. Misato and Ritsuko could only stare wide-eyed for a moment.

"And uh... he's not contagious. You're not contagious, are you Shinji?" Ritsuko asked.

"No, but I do appear to grow on people after a while." Shinji said with a smile.

"What about sexually transmitted diseases? Anything like those?" Ritsuko asked, a blush on her cheeks as well as Misato's cheeks.

"Heh, nope ladies. No risk there." Shinji said with a smile. "Only a child fathered by me would get any demon blood in their veins. And no kind of diseases at all for anyone that comes in contact with my blood." Shinji said with a bigger grin.

"Right, well... I'll have to get a blood sample." Ritsuko said as she pulled out a syringe.

"Well, don't worry about that. I think I can take it..." Shinji said with a chuckle.

"I'm sure." Ritsuko said with a smile as she went through the usual procedure of cleaning the spot then taking the blood sample anyways.

"One last thing. Shinji, how did you change your appearance in the plug of the Eva?" Ritsuko asked.

"That was my Devil Trigger. In other words, I took my demon appearance. Because I'm a half demon, I can only take my demon appearance for so long, so it can only be triggered for short periods of time. That's why it's called Devil Trigger. It also changes appearance with the different Devil Arms that I use, the melee weapons I use. What you saw was my generic appearance, what I look like without any weapon..."

"Alright. Thank you." Ritsuko said.

"I have a question. Where do you get ammunition for your guns?" Misato asked.

"I don't. Because of my demonic nature, I don't require ammunition. I just pull the trigger and a bullet flies out. Same with all my guns. It's really convenient, what with not having time to reload in the middle of a fight with demons and all." Shinji said with a grin.

"Dang, that's pretty cool." Misato said with a snap of her fingers.

"Well, now what?" Shinji asked.

"Now you're officially designated the pilot of Evangelion Unit One. Misato will take you to get your quarters assigned to you." Ritsuko explained.

"Oh, alright." Shinji said.

In an instant, all the weapons still on the bed disappeared. Shinji turned to walk out, but he paused. Taking a moment to turn around, he looked at the ladies with a puzzled look.

"You should really have those guards fired. I fired three gunshots in here and no one came running." Shinji said, sounding puzzled.

"Oh don't worry, they are either long gone, not having stuck around in the first place, or they're deciding wether or not to get back up before not coming at all." Misato said with a wave of her hand and a chuckle.

"She means that we sent them away, so they didn't hear the shots. No one is around, so no one heard them. We trusted you not to kill us. Also, she means that Section 2 can sometimes be a little... indecisive and sometimes cowardly when it comes to fighting demons." Ritsuko said with a smile of her own.

"Oh, okay." Shinji said with a nod.

-later-

"He'll be living alone?" Misato asked, sounding confused.

"That's right." the NERV employee said with a nod.

"Are you alright with that Shinji?" Misato asked, sounding concerned now.

"Hey, I'm a big kid you know. But, I'm also used to having company around me. I guess I'll be okay no matter what is decided." Shinji said, suddenly sounding a little... uncomfortable with the idea of living alone.

"Hmm.." Misato hummed to herself.

-later, again-

"What did you say!" Ritsuko exclaimed over the phone.

"You heard me. I'm going to be taking him home to live with me. It's already been cleared. Don't worry, I'll... try not to make any passes on him." Misato said, having to pause at the thought of trying to make a pass on him. She had to admit it to herself, the thought was rather tempting.

"Well... uh, you had better not. But... what about him?" Ritsuko asked, suddenly sounding a little nervous.

"What do you mean?" Misato asked.

"You know... he seemed rather interested in both of us before. And he does act a lot like Kaji used to." Ritsuko said, suddenly having flashes of the times Kaji would talk her into having a little fun with him and Misato.

"Well, yeah he does. But he can actually take a no for an answer." Misato said.

"Yes, but will you be able to say no?" Ritsuko asked, wondering to herself if she could even so no...

"..." Misato paused. "Of course I would." she finally said. "He is under age after all." she added as an after thought.

"Right. Well, be careful around him. He is a hormone filled teenager that doesn't seem one bit under age from his looks." Ritsuko finally said. "And..." she paused, finally speaking in a whisper. "If you do give in, invite me over some time. It can be just like old times." she said with a whisper.

"Sure, I guess..." Misato said awkwardly, trying not to consider actually giving in, for fear of doing just that. "Listen, I've got to go now. Bye." Misato said before hanging up.

Shinji sat on a bench not too far away, trying to not to give away the fact that he could hear every word of their conversation, even what Ritsuko was whispering. He shook his head at it, wondering what he had gotten himself into. He would never try anything if Misato didn't want it, he was only teasing before. Though, Ritsuko was right... He was a rather hormone filled teenager, and he didn't want to consider what would happen if Misato made the offer for something more then just roommates. Especially after hearing what Ritsuko said. What kind of guy had that Kaji been anyways?

"Ready to go?" Misato asked.

"Sure." Shinji said as he got up and followed her out of NERV.

"We have to pick up a few things at the store on the way back the apartment. Your things should already have arrived there." Misato said as they walked out to the car.

"Okay, fine with me." Shinji said with his smirk finally back.

-at the store-

"So, I guess we're having a party tonight huh?" Misato prodded at Shinji as he browsed down the instant food isle with her.

"Huh? Party? And why might that be?" Shinji asked.

"A welcoming party for my new roommate of course." Misato responded as she started grabbing box after box of instant food.

"Sure, sounds great..." Shinji said, seeming to stare off into the distance for a moment, before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "You should have been at the last party Dante held... You'd think a demon attacked the place with the mess the shop was in by the next morning." Shinji said with a laugh.

"Sound's like I'd like this Dante. Can he hold his liquor?" Misato asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Actually, he doesn't drink much. Of course, devils can hold several times more liquor in their systems then a human can survive before becoming intoxicated, but Dante is more of a pizza and Coke-Cola kind of guy. Besides, he was trying to be a 'responsible role-model' for me." Shinji said with a snort and a grin.

"Never seen a more sloppy guy in your life that could always somehow keep from making a mess." Shinji said laughing.

"How'd he do that?" Misato asked.

"Everyone lives in the back of the shop. That includes two women and one that visits regularly. It was a necessary skill." Shinji said with a smirk. "Though Trish is almost as messy as he is sometimes."

Finally Shinji started to pick something out. A large pile of microwave pizzas found themselves stacked in Misato's cart. Next a few dozen bags of potato chips. A few boxes of popular American cereal followed shortly after that. He finally finished it off with a few cases of sodas.

"What's all this stuff?" Misato asked, slightly alarmed at the money such a stockpile would cost in one trip.

"Food. Don't worry, I'm paying for this stuff." Shinji said with a grin.

"Alright. How do you eat all this stuff and get so fit?" Misato asked.

"I'll answer your question if you answer me this. How do you keep such a great figure on the stuff you eat, and..." Shinji pauses as he saw that there was over twice as much beer as the sodas he grabbed. "..and that much beer?" Shinji asked.

"I don't know, just lucky I guess." Misato replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Well, I keep 'fit' by killing off demons regularly. In fact, it's our job to kill demons. Besides, this stuff isn't _really_ what we live off of." Shinji said.

"Oh yeah, then what is?" Misato asked.

"The blood of the demons we kill." Shinji said with an evil grin.

Misato looked at him nervously, unable to tell if he was joking or not.

"I'm kidding Misato." Shinji finally admitted.

"... Well, alright then..." Misato said after a pause.

"Mostly anyways." Shinji mumbled just to get at Misato's head.

"Shut up you." Misato said as she started for the check out.

-Katsuragi apartment-

"Home sweet home." Misato said as she opened the door with a card key and walked in.

Shinji walked in with the bags of groceries, looked around, and knocked the beer cans off the table to put the bags down. Taking another look at the amount of alcohol that Misato must drink in order to have caused such a large pile up, Shinji shrugged. There was no way that this was anything less then a few months worth of cans.

"Oh, don't mind the mess. I just moved in here myself a few weeks ago." Misato called out from her room. "Could you put the beer in the fridge?"

"Sure." Shinji called.

Opening the fridge, Shinji saw at least twice as many beers in the fridge as there were on the floor and other surfaces. This woman had a serious thing for drinking. Maybe she had demon blood in her, because that was the only way Shinji could see her being able to live through that much alcohol in such a short amount of time. Shaking it off, Shinji found a small hole to stuff the rest of the beers in. There wasn't room for the sodas anywhere, but he found a place for the pizzas at least.

"What's in the other fridge?" Shinji asked.

"Oh don't worry, he's probably still asleep." Misato called out.

"Well, I'm going to get my room set up now!" Shinji shouted as he walked out to grab his boxes.

-later-

"Let's eat!" Misato declared loudly.

"Let's!" Shinji shouted almost as loud.

With that they dug into the piles of instant food. Shinji feasting upon his pizzas, while Misato ate the strange concoctions she had come up with using all the other instant foods and the potato chips. The sounds of sloppy eating and enjoying it filled the apartment for the next few moments. Finally Misato paused in her eating to speak.

"What's the matter Shinji? You're not eating the rest of the food?" Misato asked.

"Sorry Misato. I may be Japanese, but I was raised by an American half-devil demon hunter. I like pizza." Shinji stated before biting off another bite of pizza.

"What! Are you being finicky!" Misato declared as she leaped up and leaned over to get in Shinji's face.

As she did, her low color shirt, the same one from the picture she had sent Shinji, fell down to reveal a very good portion of her cleavage, and the extremely _short_ shorts that she was wearing weren't helping. Shinji's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he quickly brought them up to stare in her eyes. When he saw that she wasn't backing down, Shinji decided to throw caution into the wind. After all, she could shoot him all she wanted. With that thought, he brought his eyes back down to the low hanging collar.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Misato asked in a low tone.

"Doing what you told me to in the picture." Shinji said matter-of-factly.

"Fine." Misato as she sat back down in her seat, taking the sight away from Shinji. A small smirk was on her lips.

-later, again-

"Alright, let's decide who's doing what chores we're going to be doing each." Misato said. "How about Rock Paper Scissors?" she asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"Uh..." Shinji said as he caught the gleam. "How about I pull out my pistols and shoot myself in the head and get it over with. You're obviously very good at Rock Paper Scissors. How about I take three out of four jobs, and you decide which ones you want?" Shinji asked.

"Humph, you're no fun, you know that?" Misato asked with a pout.

"Sure I am, hand me one of your warm beers." Shinji said.

Misato hesitantly handed him a beer, afraid he might drink it instead of her. Shinji smiled and winked before pulling out Cerberus, lightly holding it under the can. Suddenly frost began to gather, and Shinji handed the can back, ice cold but not frozen. It was just the right cold temperature.

"Have I told you how awesome you are lately?" Misato asked with a goofy smile.

"Tell me later, I have to take a shower and get ready for some shut eye." Shinji said as he walked towards his room to get some extra shorts.

Soon Shinji was standing before the bathroom door, finding himself staring up at the hanging lingerie for a moment, again wondering what he had got himself into. Misato was obviously not used to living with a roommate, especially a boy. Shaking his head he pulled the door open after making sure one more time that Misato was in the kitchen and hadn't snuck into the bathroom quickly.

Steam quickly filtered out the bathroom door, and a silhouette of a small dark figure shook almost violently before Shinji. Wiping his hands to clear the steam, he found himself staring down at a penguin with a puzzled expression on its face. The Penguin just stared at Shinji for a few more moments, before walking past him and to the fridge.

"Misato?" Shinji asked as he walked into the kitchen. "Why didn't you tell me I had another roommate?" Shinji asked.

"It didn't come up in conversation. He's Penpen, a warm water penguin. He's great." Misato said with a smile. "And uh, Shinji, don't you want to cover up?" Misato asked.

Shinji looked down at his black boxers with his eyebrow raised.

"What? They're clean and they cover everything up with room to spare." Shinji said as he walked off and to the bathroom.

As soon as he was gone Misato wiped the drool away from her mouth where it had been threatening to form since she saw Shinji's figure fully revealed to her. How could a fourteen year old have such a developed figure again? Oh yeah, not fully human. That thought hardly mattered to Misato anymore as she contemplated 'accidentally' walking into the shower.

'No Misato! Bad thoughts! He's underage! Sure he's old enough to fight and die for the world, but he's not old enough to get away with _THAT_!' Misato shouted in her mind. 'Then again with the permission from his guardian, Dante, maybe...' she started to scheme before slapping herself to make herself get off that line of thought. "Down Misato, down." she quietly whispered to herself.

-later, Misato in the bath-

"So, have you jumped him yet?" Ritsuko asked over the phone.

"Oh, shut up you! It's not as easy as you might think!" Misato exclaimed, almost letting her voice carry out of the room. "I mean, if I see him in his boxers one more time, I might just do that." Misato said, tears almost reaching her eyes in desperation. 'He'd be the first guy since Kaji...' Misato thought, again almost bringing the tears.

"Well, I can't really sympathize, but if you want me to, you could send him over here for a few days." Ritsuko suggested.

"And let you sink your claws into him without me? I don't think so." Misato said with a frown. "Besides, he's a good kid. Heck, he's literally faced off against hell, and he laughs about it like they were some great memories. It's hard to imagine doing the same thing." Misato said, softer now.

"Well, if he's right about the angels being demons, then we might just be doing the same thing now." Ritsuko said, also more serious.

"Yeah well, we're going to be depending on him pretty heavily, aren't we?" Misato asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid we are. There's something I didn't say during the attack because I couldn't believe it then. When the Eva went berserk, and Shinji changed to his Devil Trigger form, he... he achieve a synch of 99.99. It should have been impossible, but he did it while he was transformed. The Eva was berserk alright, but he controlled it with ease, I guess merging his anger with it. He's the perfect Eva pilot." Ritsuko said, a bit of concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I guess so. The question is, will it be enough?" Misato asked. Suddenly a question popped into her mind, and she had to ask it. "Did he use his AT-field at all during the battle?"

"Yes. When he tossed the angel away and tackled it again. The angel had deployed its AT-field. Shinji ripped right through it so easily, we didn't even see it visibly as we would have if it had taken any effort. He was so good, it's scary." Ritsuko admitted.

"Well, he's on our side, so we don't have to worry about that at least." Misato said with a sigh.

"Yeah. Just pity the angels." Ritsuko said with a chuckle before getting her cheerier mood back. "I've got to go. See you in the morning when you bring him in for tests, then we get him ready for school. Good night." Ritsuko said before hanging up.

Misato put the phone down beside the tub and leaned back into the water. She stared hard up at the ceiling, watching images that weren't there play back. Quick flashes of her version of hell flashed before her eyes, those giant wings stretched high into the sky.

"Pity for the angels? I don't think so. You kill the fuckers Shinji." Misato breathed before slipping back into the water.

-later, Shinji's room-

"Shinji?" Misato called through the door. "Can I come in?" she asked.

"Yeah, come on in." Shinji called back.

Misato opened the door and immediately paused at what she saw. Along the walls were plaques, as if they should have skulls on them, but they were empty. Then she noticed the one thing that could be a trophy. On the wall across from Shinji's bed hung a single huge scythe, just like what Misato imagined the Grim Reaper might use.

"What's that?" Misato asked.

"It's the scythe that killed my teacher. It would have killed me too, but instead it set me on a path to becoming a demon hunter and a devil myself. I keep it to remind myself, of what might have been and what is." Shinji said as he stared at it from the foot of his bed.

"And the empty plaques?" Misato asked.

"Their trophies." Shinji said with a grin.

"Of demons?" Misato asked, earning a nod from Shinji. "But there isn't anything on them." Misato stated in confusion.

"I haven't killed any yet around here, except the big ugly one, and it's skull is just a little to big too fit in the room. Maybe on the side of the building..." Shinji said with his grin only growing into his smirk.

"Do you really think you'll be able to kill any demons here other then the angels?" Misato asked.

"Where there's a really big one, little ones are always sure to follow shortly. Don't worry, there won't be more then a few dozen after every angel. I can hunt them down easily before they cause any damage. They should be arriving in a few days. Then I'll have a few skulls to put up on display, the more dangerous ones." Shinji said with a chuckle.

"Oh, well, I wanted to say something that I didn't before. I wanted to say that you did something very good today. You saved our city, and maybe the world. Just... hang in there okay?" Misato tried to encourage.

"Don't worry about me Misato. I'll kill them for you, just like you asked me to do." Shinji said softly.

"After all, you're the only one that's seen the kind of hell I have other then the others at the shop." Shinji said, his eyes seemingly looking far off again.

"You... you know? You know about that?" Misato asked surprised.

"Yeah, like I said, we checked up on NERV, Gendo, and you too. Few could handle what you did. That's why I'll kill them for you, because you asked me too, and because you want it as much as anyone could." Shinji said seriously, but with a small smile. "So don't worry. Don't feel guilty about using me, because you're not. I told you to ask me, and you did, so this is a favor." Shinji assured her.

"A... a favor? A favor for what?" Misato asked.

"Well, that's what friends do, right? They do favors for each other, not always expecting something back. So, how about we just be friends, okay?" Shinji asked.

"Sure Shinji, we'll be friends." Misato said with a smile. "Now get some sleep. Tomorrow you have synch tests, then we get you set up to go to school. Good night." Misato said as she left the room.

"Good night Misato." Shinji said as he laid back on the bed.

When he was sure he was alone he began his thinking again.

'It seems like we all have problems with our fathers. Lady hated her father for killing her mother, and becoming a devil. Trish's father was a demon that created her for a puppet. Lucia has the same problem. Dante hated his father for abandoning him. Virgil disliked his father for locking up the gates to hell and refusing power over others. I...I gave up my old father for a new one that's already dead. Heh, he's been a better father anyways. And Misato hated her father, but loved him for giving up his life for hers. It's all a confusing thing if you let it get to you, so, I think I'll just go on not giving it too much thought. That stuff will only give you head aches.' Shinji thought with a smirk as he fell asleep.

-scene change-

A roof top nearly half a mile away held a shadow. It soon walked into the light, revealing itself as Virgil with a pair of binoculars. He watched the apartment with nothing but a small smirk, barely there at all. Holding up a cell phone, he pressed the speed dial.

"It seems that he's adjusting well after all. He's even living with a woman, a rather attractive one at that. I think he'll be fine after all... Yes, I'll continue to watch him for a while. Good bye." Virgil spoke softly and confidently as his smirk grew slightly. It would be good for the boy to go it alone for a while. After all, every demon must stretch his legs for the first time some time... He had every confidence that he would do well, after all, he is his half brother and a son of Sparda.

-To Be Continued-


	3. Refuge from Angels l Haven for Demons

**Devil Never Cries**

Authors Notes: I'm happy to be back, and sorry for the wait. Thanks for all the great reviews you've given me so far, and I hope they keep coming. They've helped me though the pain I've been in the last six weeks. I extend my big thanks to those who wished me luck with my surgery and your warm wishes that my shoulder would feel better. I'm doing better now, and just got out of my brace that I've been confined to for the last six weeks.

Yes. That's why I haven't updated. I thank you for being patient and understanding the pain I've been in and why I haven't updated until now. As for all the people who whined and pleaded for me to update and not let the story die, I have this to say. DOESN'T ANYONE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES! I specifically stated in the notes in chapter 2 that I was going into surgery THE DAY AFTER I posted it, and that I wasn't going to be able to update until I was feeling better. After all, surgery does tend to hurt. A LOT! I'm sorry if you think I'm being too harsh, and normally I wouldn't be upset by this, but when I'm waking up screaming in pain for six weeks, and it hurts to move my arm to even reach for the keyboard, it doesn't help to see people whining about how long it's been since I've updated, and leaving no way to contact them to explain.

So here I am, warning you that I don't know how long it will be before my next update. I will TRY to have it up soon, but don't go expecting a one a day update or anything, because my arm is still in lots of pain, and it just drains my motivation to see people assuming I'm giving up on the story and whining about the wait when the real reason for the wait is the extreme pain in my right shoulder. Add to the fact that up until a matter of days ago, everything I could type had to be done with only my left hand, and my motivation is easily lost for a day or two at a time.

So I thank you all for enjoying the story as much as you have, and I thank you for your reviews, they're all great! It makes me feel good that someone is enjoying this, and it does help my motivation and let's me put aside the pain for a while. I **am** sorry that I haven't been able to update until now, but I made the choice not to update until my arm was out of the brace so I would have a chance to get started on chapter 4. So just read and enjoy, review if you like it, tell me what you liked about it, review if you don't like it, tell me what you didn't like about it. Thanks again to those who sent me messages telling me that you understood the pain I've been in, you made me feel a hundred percent better, despite the pain.

Without further interruption, here's the story and I hope you like it! Hope it's worth the wait!

-Chapter 3-

Ritsuko sat at a small desk with a not so small set of monitors around her in the "Eva Training Simulation Room" sipping her coffee. Today was going to be a long day. Only yesterday had they received the newest pilot, but he was most certainly the most interesting, and problem making pilot so far. Being a half-devil, meant that she had to run even more thorough tests on him then she had ever run before, and analyze every line of data several times to make sure that she wasn't missing anything important to his performance or any other effects his demonic blood could have on anything.

And since he was adamant about the Evas and angels being demons, she would have to run multiple tests on his blood, and any similarities it might have to the Evas, and how that could effect his piloting, or the Eva's themselves. Not to mention the number of _extra_ tests she would have to run if they ever got a hold of any angel samples. She just hoped that they didn't _all_ self destruct at death.

As she was almost finished sipping her coffee from its cup, the doors on the other side opened. Shinji poked his head around the door, but did no more. Ritsuko raised an eyebrow at this, as he appeared almost... shy about something. Since the day before, when she had met him, she couldn't imagine him being shy about anything.

"Um, Ritsuko? Do I really have to wear this thing?" Shinji finally asked.

"What? Your plug suite?" Ritsuko asked.

Shinji frowned as if it should be obvious. "No Ritsuko, the piece of male lingerie that Misato bought me this morning." he dead panned, sarcasm almost dripping from his voice.

"Yes Shinji, yes you have to wear the lingerie." Ritsuko answered, not even a hint of playing around in her voice, as her eyes almost seemed to become those of a predator watching its prey at the thought of such a thing.

"Yes I mean the plug suite!" Shinji exclaimed.

"Yes Shinji. The plug suite will help you synch with the Eva, and it also helps me with my tests, so please come in now." Ritsuko said, the look fading in her eyes and her tone became more casual.

"Fine." Shinji said, sounding upset and disappointed. "But this thing is uncomfortable." he complained.

Shinji then walked into the room in his plug suite. Ritsuko's eyes almost bugged before the predatory look came back to them full force. Shinji's muscular figure was shown off _quite_ well by the tight suite he had to wear. It was taking every ounce of Ritsuko's control to keep from examining every curve that was shown off by the suite. It was unfortunate that Ritsuko didn't have much control in this case.

"Uh, Ritsuko? Doc? Dr. Ritsuko Akagi?" Shinji began to ask as she was just staring at him. This continued, Ritsuko mumbling something in an almost strained sounding voice, but it wasn't coherent so not even Shinji's incredible hearing could make out what she was saying. Finally, Shinji was getting desperate.

Shinji pulled out his silver pistol, Yui, and fired it three times at the ceiling. This scared Ritsuko out of her staring with a small scream, squeezing her eyes closed as she momentarily forgot where she was and who she was with. When she finally opened her eyes, she was looking at a rather annoyed looking Shinji, still holding his pistol to the sky.

"Next time you want to space on me while I'm wearing something embarrassing to me, take a picture or something and drool later." Shinji said as he was calming down.

Ritsuko nodded with a still slightly frightened expression. Shinji put away the pistol, looking away to do so, and suddenly there was a small flash of light. Shinji looked up in surprise to see Ritsuko holding a camera at him, having just taken a picture. Shinji had to use every ounce of his will power to keep from blowing that camera away with his pistols...

"Can we just get started already?" Shinji finally asked in an exasperated tone.

"Yes, uh, of course. Please step through that door there and enter the test plug. Once inside we will be running a several points test. We will be monitoring your synch closely, your various medical stats, and we will be training you further in the use of the Evangelions, as well as familiarizing you with the city's lay out and locations of things important to the piloting of the Evas, such as extraction points and weapons buildings." Ritsuko said, managing to regain her professionalism somewhere in the middle of her speech.

"So... in other words your giving me the tutorial to this little video game?" Shinji asked.

"Uh... yes Shinji. You could say that." Ritsuko finally responded.

"Alright, let's fire this puppy up!" Shinji let out in a small shout to get himself psyched as he walked through the door.

-later-

"This is getting really boring." Shinji complained. "I mean, this is beginning to border on sucking." Shinji continued on.

"Relax Shinji. The training is almost over." Ritsuko assured him over the intercom.

"So?" Misato asked as she came into the monitoring room and up beside Ritsuko. "How's our little demon doing in his tests?" she asked.

"He won't shut up."Ritsuko said as she held her forehead in frustration.

"I mean seriously! This is a really boring way to shoot a gun! Center the target, pull the trigger! Come on, where's the style? Where's the fun? Can't I at least shoot at a _different_ looking target then that stupid demon that I killed _last night_! This is what? The 215th one I've killed already?" Shinji exclaimed.

"There are no other targets to kill Shinji! That's the only one we've seen so far! Okay! When the next angel comes around, then you can have a different target!" Ritsuko shouted in anger.

"Alright, alright already. Sheesh... Can't I at least face one that doesn't go down after just a few shots?" Shinji asked.

'He wants to face a tougher angel huh? Fine! I'll give him a tougher angel!' Ritsuko thought to herself with a demented mad scientist grin.

"Are you feeling alright Ritsu?" Misato asked as Ritsuko got that 'I'm about to go nuts' grin.

"Alright! Alright! Of course I'm feeling alright! I've never felt better!" Ritsuko exclaimed as she was typing into her keyboard at a speed that was almost impossible to see.

Suddenly the 216th angel popped into the simulation that Shinji was in. Sighing in boredom, Shinji shot it through the core, but the angel kept it's slow march up anyways. Shinji arched his eyebrow as he looked at the hole he shot clear through the core as it shut on its own. Grinning wide, Shinji finally got excited.

"Now this what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed. "Thank's Ritsuko!" he said happily.

"Should we be doing this?" Misato asked as she watched the simulation program, and watching Shinji's Eva rush into close range combat with the angel.

"Of course. It's good to see how a pilot responds to an unbeatable scenario." Ritsuko said as they watched Shinji's Eva begin to beat the living crap out of the angel, ripping chunks out of it with its fists.

"Yeah, but, this won't make him mad or anything when he finally loses?" Misato asked, a little worried.

"No..." Ritsuko said as they watched the angel regenerating, only to have chunks ripped out again. "He seems to be enjoying it actually." Ritsuko said, her plan to aggravate Shinji backfiring somewhat.

Shinji finally backed off after a bit. The angel regenerated again, and went to stand. Shinji smiled, before pulling out the rifle again. Aiming at the feet, he shot the angel's ankles off, sending it to the ground. Leaping on it again, he began to jump on it like it was some kind of trampoline. The sounds of bones cracking under the Eva's weight made the girls wince, but it only made Shinji grin bigger. Finally he made a big 'bounce' on the angel and came down on it hard with his full body.

He crawled up to all fours and held the angel down with his legs and left arm. Reaching up, he grabbed the prog. knife kept in the shoulder wing of the Eva. Pulling it out with an evil gleam in his eye and an insane grin, Shinji went to work. The girls were almost ready to shut it off from the sick feeling they were getting as Shinji began to carve his name into the angel's back.

"Uh, Shinji?" Ritsuko asked tentatively.

"Don't worry." Shinji said in a amused sounding tone. "I'm just having a little bit of fun." Shinji said as he finally got off the angel.

"If you say so..." Misato said uneasily.

"Hey, Ritsuko, could you maybe get the angel to run a little or something?" Shinji asked.

"A..alright." Ritsuko said nervously.

"And I don't mean run away. I want it to chase me. Okay?" Shinji asked with a smile.

"Sure Shinji. Chase you. Okay." Ritsuko said as she typed in her speedy fashion.

Suddenly the angel started to get up, and Shinji could tell it wanted to grab onto him something fierce. Just what he wanted it to do. Quickly Shinji broke into a run away from the angel, using his rifle to slow it down by shooting out its legs. The angel would spend a second or two on the ground before getting up again and continuing the chase.

Shinji ran out of ammo just about when he reached an extraction lift. Smirking, he set it to start when he pressed the remote button in his plug. Standing there, he waited for the angel as it came charging at him again. Just as it went to tackle him with its energy pistons first, Shinji leaped up and tossed down the prog. knife, stabbing it through it's foot and into the lift. Just then he pressed the button, sending the lift down at full speed, as the angel almost seemed to disappear it fell so fast.

"Whooh this is fun!" Shinji shouted in excitement.

He grabbed another rifle from a armament building and went back to the lift quickly. Without a second thought he jumped down the hole, falling at nearly the same speed the angel fell at. As he was almost to the bottom of the incredibly long drop, Shinji let out a shout of excitement and covered his face as a cross flare passed over the Eva's body, unable to even slow or heavily damage the Eva as it then slammed feet first into the angel's face. The two giants became tangled at the bottom, as most of the angel was now crushed from the Eva's fall on top of it.

Shinji rolled off it and started to run again, right through the simulated NERV base. The angel soon regenerated and began to chase after him as it was programmed to do. Shinji seemed to be taking random turns as he ran around like a chicken with its head chopped off. His hilarious laughter didn't make it seem like he had a plan either. Finally he started to almost randomly hit things, but then stopped almost a second later, and the angel almost caught up to him. He quickly football tackled the angel down then ran past it again.

Again he stopped next to the lifts, waiting for the angel. Again the angel came barreling at him, but this time Shinji didn't move away. Instead he emptied his entire rifle into the angel's ankles, ripping its feet off. As the feet were reattaching themselves, Shinji shoved the angel onto a lift. Smashing the brakes and the locks quickly, Shinji gave the angel one last parting gift before launching the lift.

"Bye bye now mister demon." Shinji said as it shot upwards at incredible speeds, almost twice as fast as the speed of sound.

The angel flew upwards with a cannister strapped to its stomach. It wasn't programmed to care about such things, so it did nothing to remove it. The lift finally slammed to the surface, breaking off as there had been no breaks. The angel flew high into the air, almost higher then most jets could fly. Suddenly the cannister strapped to its chest, an N2 mine, exploded, raining fire down on the simulation city as most buildings were thrown to the ground from the shockwave alone.

Ritsuko and Misato let their jaws drop as the message that the 216th simulation angel had been defeated.

"No way! I programmed that angel to be unbeatable!" Ritsuko shouted in shock.

"I figured that." Shinji replied over the intercom. "But, I also figured that you hadn't thought to program it to be able to regenerate from being totally vaporized, or at least the program might be tricked into thinking it self destructed or something and not allow it to regenerate." Shinji explained with a smirk. "That was fun, anything else?" Shinji asked.

"No Shinji. That's all." Ritsuko mumbled as she disengaged the simulation.

"Thanks. I've been in this thing for hours, and that was the only fun thing the whole time." Shinji commented as the LCL began to drain.

Finally the intercom shut off, cutting off any other comments from Shinji as Ritsuko and Misato were left just staring forwards at the last screen from the simulation. Tokyo-3 had been heavily wrecked by the shockwave, but only the eastern outskirts. Shinji had sent it to the mountains next to the city, therefore only wrecking about an eighth of the city with the explosion. Still, the sight of the crumbled buildings, and the Eva almost grinning down in NERV, was a little unnerving.

"Wow." was all Misato could finally say.

"You said it." Ritsuko replied.

"Mental note: never let that kid get a hold of fireworks." Misato almost mumbled.

"Those are wise words. I can still hardly believe he just beat me at my own program... and he did it with 35 seconds left in his Eva's batteries. If this kid is only the younger brother of three half-demons, I'd hate to see what would happen if we ever made enemies with the whole family..." Ritsuko said breathlessly.

"Or had them host a barbeque with fireworks..." Misato muttered before finally shaking her head. "Well, now I have to get him ready for school..." Misato said before sighing.

"What's the matter captain? We've already taken care of registering him in his new school, and he doesn't _actually_ start school until tomorrow... All you have to do is take him by the school today and make sure that he gets well acquainted with the rules, customs, where he has to go, and generally what the school is like. Then you get to take the rest of the day off. What's so bad about that?" Ritsuko asked, rather envious of Misato's light work load for the day, especially considering that her work load had only increased with Shinji's arrival and that her day's work had hardly begun.

"Well, he really is completely used to American ways of doing things. I mean, he speaks Japanese perfectly, but his life style is so very different then the way it is over here. I mean, the next thing you know, he'll be looking for a McDonald's or something..." Misato said as she looked out the window at the test plug.

Ritsuko could tell that her friend lacked the usual conviction behind her words that she usually had, so she wasn't telling her everything. A quick glance in Misato's direction told Ritsuko that she was right. Misato was definitely distracted by something, her mind being somewhere else completely. Wondering what was so interesting, she followed her line of sight.

Her answer was quite obvious when she saw Shinji walking out of the test plug chamber and heading into the hall to change his clothes. Misato's eyes were roaming over Shinji's body the same way she had been doing when he arrived that morning. Acting fast, Ritsuko managed to pull out her camera and snap a shot of Shinji's back side just as he was about to walk out of their vew. The flash brought Misato back to the real world with a start, jumping an inch back as she shook her head before glaring at Ritsuko.

"Ritsuko! Taking pictures of Shinji is just wrong!" she exclaimed.

"I'll sell you a copy of this one and the earlier one for just a few hundred yen each..." Ritsuko said with a large grin.

Misato eyed her friend for a moment before fishing out the desired money.

"This is just because I think it would be a little awkward to ask him to model his plug suite for me at home." she said as she handed Ritsuko the bills. "After all, we're friends now." she said with a large smile.

"Oh really? Friends?" Ritsuko asked. "How close of friends are you?" she asked with a mischievous grin to her face and a twinkle in her eyes. "I thought you said you wouldn't do anything without telling me?" she asked with mock hurt in her voice.

"Oh hush up you. It's nothing like that. He just..." Misato paused for a few seconds to regain her composure before continuing. "He just said that he was fighting the angels as a favor to me because we're friends." she said with a ghostly smile to her face. "He said that I'm not using him because he wants to do this. I was afraid that I was only using him, but he already knew that and relieved me of that fear... We're friends." Misato finished as she was mostly talking to herself out loud now.

"So you're not just after him for the sex huh?" Ritsuko asked teasingly.

"Well, that _is_ a pretty big factor, yes." Misato answered back teasingly. "And if you want me to share you had better lay off me some alright!" Misato threatened.

"Alright, so if you're so friendly, then what _is_ the matter with getting him ready and adjusted to school here?" Ritsuko asked, calming down from her teasing high somewhat at Misato's threat. After all, she couldn't be sure if she was serious or not.

"Well..." Misato started rather nervously as she blushed a little and leaned back. "The school has a uniform rule, and Shinji doesn't have any uniforms... So I have to take him shopping." Misato finished.

"Oh, so _that_'s what's the matter? Well..." Ritsuko began as she leaned closer to Misato and whispered. "Might I suggest some... male lingerie for him." she said with a cat-like grin.

"Ritsuko! This is serious! I've decided to work on my self control, but I don't know if I could handle that...! Besides, there is a bigger problem..." Misato claimed.

"Oh, and that would be?" Ritsuko asked, her curiosity peeked.

"You're forgetting that no matter how old he looks, he's still fourteen." Misato elaborated.

"So?" Ritsuko asked, honestly not seeing any problem. "He's old enough to fight and die for the entire world, he's old enough to do some of the more _adult_ things afforded to legal adults. If you're really worried about that, NERV can officially make the pilots legal adults, and you could call up his legal guardian if you feel the need to. That Dante guy Shinji told us about. I'm sure that you could come to an arrangement of some sorts. After all, he takes him out to fight demons, how could he _not_ see him as mature enough to make his own decisions." Ritsuko explained.

Misato sweat dropped for a moment at Ritsuko's justification of sleeping with Shinji. It sounded like she had been running that one through her head for a while. Just like herself actually. She shook her head as that wasn't what she had a problem with at the moment.

"Ritsuko, that was thoroughly thought out and well put, but that wasn't the problem I was referring to." Misato dead panned.

"Oh, then what's the problem?" Ritsuko asked with an arched eyebrow.

"The problem is that he is fourteen, he looks much older, and he is going to a highschool that will undoubtedly be filled with fourteen year old girls filled with hormones and gunning for him." Misato explained fully.

"Oh, you're worried about competition." Ritsuko concluded.

"Hell yes I'm worried about competition!" Misato exclaimed. "After all, he _is_ a hormone filled teenage boy that will no doubt have at least half the girls in the school all over him. Who knows what could happen!" Misato said worriedly.

"Oh don't worry so much Misato. After all, why would he have some little inexperienced highschool girl, when he could easily have a much more developed and experienced _woman_ instead?" Ritsuko asked as she subtly flexed her muscles in the perfect way to accentuate her feminine features under her lab coat before turning a somewhat roaming eye on Misato to help with her point.

"Well, youth does have its advantages..." Misato muttered.

"Oh please Misato. Like you couldn't, or better yet, _we_ couldn't keep up with the most youthful and energy filled teenage girl?" Ritsuko pointed out with a light smack to Misato's arm. "Besides, we already know the truth about him and aren't afraid of him. That's bound to make him more comfortable with pursuing relationships with us instead of someone that might get scared of him." Ritsuko said to help reassure her friend.

"You're really set on us seducing him together, aren't you?" Misato asked sarcastically.

"Tell me that you weren't tempted to try and jump his bones when you first saw him, and I'll say no." Ritsuko challenged. When she didn't get any response besides a slight blush from Misato, she continued. "Besides, I would be glad to pursue him by myself, but he seems rather interested in you. And besides... I rather enjoyed those days with Kaji and you, and wouldn't mind reliving them with Shinji... It was fun." Ritsuko said with a nostalgic smile on her face as her eyes glazed over for a few seconds.

"Well, the more the merrier I guess." Misato resigned herself to having to involve her friend should anything ever happen between Shinji and herself.

"You know, he should be changed by now. You had better get him to a clothing store and buy him those uniforms." Ritsuko said to get Misato off on her way. After all, she had a lot of work to do and talking about what she would like to do to Shinji wouldn't get any of it done.

"You know, we really _are_ just two old perverted women." Misato said as she headed for the door.

"That's not true Misato. We're not old." Ritsuko called back as Misato opened the door.

"That makes me feel a _lot_ better. Thanks. See ya later." Misato called back as she walked towards the pilots changing rooms.

When she arrived she found Shinji already waiting for her, once again dressed in the outfit that he had been in when she first met him. Misato raised an eyebrow at this.

"What's the matter Shinji, don't have any more clothes then that?" she asked curiously.

Shinji looked at her with a smirk and a gleam to his eyes as he answered.

"Of course I do Misato, but these _are_ my most comfortable clothes... After all, they are bound to me the same way that my weapons are." Shinji said with a chuckle.

"Huh?" Misato asked.

Shinji shrugged his shoulders before his trench coat disappeared into thin air right off his body. Misato's eyes bugged, though she would later reflect that she should have been prepared for that. A moment later the jacket reappeared back on Shinji's body as if it were never gone. Pushing himself off of the wall where he had been leaning, Shinji started walking towards the exit, looking back at Misato with a warm smile to silently invite her to walk with him. Misato numbly took him up on his invitation and followed after him.

"So you can, what...? Just call those clothes to you whenever you want?" Misato asked.

"Yeah, actually, I can. They can replace whatever I'm wearing at the time, while the clothes I may have been wearing before disappear until I send this outfit away. It just so happens that these are my fighting clothes, but are also my most comfortable clothes." Shinji answered as he maneuvered himself to be walking next to Misato now, instead of in front of her.

"Well, we're going to have to see what we can do about that. I have to take you shopping for some school uniforms so you'll be ready for tomorrow. After that we are going to swing by the school itself and get you introduced to the faculty ahead of time. When we're done with that, we're free for the rest of the day!" Misato said with a big grin on her face.

Shinji could actually _feel_ the happy relief coming off of her. He wondered what was getting her so excited about having the day off. Was working for this place really that bad? Shrugging his shoulders to himself, he decided to just ask her later as he could tell that she was already spacing about something.

Misato herself was relishing the thought of having the day off. After all, the day before had been the first angel attack in fifteen years, and she _should_ have been tied up for the next two days. Instead, because of Shinji's special _condition_ and its possible ties to the Evangelions and the angels, almost all of her work had to go to Ritsuko so that she could do the most research she could into the possible consequences this could have. Of course, her work wouldn't _always_ go to Ritsuko, but this time it did, and that had her rather excited about getting the day off when she should be buried under a mountain of papers.

"Sorry to ruin your perfect little trip to the moon and everything, but you _do_ know that they might not make uniforms for that school in _my_ size, right?" Shinji interrupted Misato's lapse from reality.

"Don't worry about it Shinji. It's just simple dress shirts and dark blue pants. Nothing really fancy or special." Misato said as she shook her head to clear the fog of day dreams out of her mind.

"Oh... Well, that's alright I guess." Shinji said nodding his head. "Of course, they won't be nearly as comfortable as these clothes, but alright." Shinji said with a shrug.

"Just why _are_ those clothes so comfortable to you anyways?" Misato asked, finally letting her curiosity get to her about his clothes.

"Since they're bonded to me, they're effectively a part of me. They feel like a second skin to me." Shinji answered as they reached the half way point to Misato's car.

"How do you keep them clean? I mean, they were covered in LCL when you were in the Eva." Misato asked as she eyed the outfit again, only partially checking out Shinji this time.

"Magic I guess." Shinji answered.

"Magic?" Misato asked, only a little skeptically.

"My demon powers keep them clean by killing germs, brushing off dirt, drying them almost instantly when they get wet, and otherwise cleansing them when I consider them dirty in someway." Shinji explained. "That's also the reason why they're repaired when damaged, like when I stabbed myself. These clothes are bonded to me, so when I healed, they did too."

"I was starting to wonder about that..." Misato admitted as they finally reached the garage.

"Well, let's go get those school clothes. Never had any of those." Shinji said mostly to himself.

This made Misato curious.

"You've never had school clothes?" she asked, eyeing Shinji again, this time managing to keep from checking him out completely. "Why not?"

"I've never been to school." Shinji said with a shrug.

"Never?" Misato asked unbelievingly.

"Never." Shinji answered her.

"So how did you learn anything? What kind of education did you get?" Misato asked as they finally reached the car.

Shinji stared over the roof of the car at her dumbly, his head cocked to the side and one eye crossed while the other wasn't.

"Dah... education? What's that Misato?" he asked in a sarcastic tone.

Misato frowned at him as she unlocked the doors.

"I was home schooled of course. The more I trained in demon hunting, the more that Lady wanted to make sure I studied too. After all, I have to know how to read in order to study the books they had about demons and demon killing. If you must know, I'm around the level of a high school senior, but I'll take what ever classes you put me in. Quite frankly, I'd like to be around kids my age anyways." Shinji said as he plopped himself down in the passenger seat.

"You know Shinji, you don't really look fourteen... That could cause problems." Misato admitted.

"So? I'm a transfer student from America that just happens to have been born in Japan. I think I'll be weird enough that it'll just be one more thing weird about me. I'm not worried." Shinji said with a shrug before leaning back in the seat to relax until they got to a clothing store.

"You're not worried at all?" Misato asked, eyeing him again even as she gunned it for the elevator to the surface.

"Nah. I've faced hundreds of demons and _two_ portals directly to hell. Why should I be worried about what some highschool kids think about me? Besides, I've managed to make friends with _plenty_ of kids around my age over the years, despite looking older." Shinji said with his eyes closed and a confident smile on his face.

Misato shrugged as she stopped to swipe her card and get onto the train. Maybe Shinji's going to school wouldn't be a problem after all. After all, other then looking eighteen and having an incredible body, he could pass as completely normal. Heck, he fooled her until he transformed, even when he had practically spelled it out that he wasn't normal at all.

"Of course, most of those kids were people that Dante or I saved from demons at some time or another. They were weirded out by what I am for a while, but then got over it. Just like you actually." Shinji said with a grin before seemingly going to sleep.

"About that Shinji..." Misato paused to consider how to go on.

"Hmm?" Shinji hummed as he poked one open at her.

"Could you... maybe not tell everyone that you're a demon. Or about the angels being demons? That's all sorta suppose to be top secret stuff and all that." Misato finished as she parked on the train.

Shinji started to laugh.

"Misato...!" he said between loud chuckles. "What did you think I was going to do? Walk in there and say something stupid like 'Hi! I'm Shinji Ikari, a son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, a demon who fought all of hell back into the holes they crawled out of and sealed Earth off from hell. I kill demons for a living, and am now fighting the really giant looking bastards that have been tearing the city up with the giant demon that NERV gave me to fight with! How are you today?'" Shinji exclaimed, laughing all the way through his little speech.

"Well, I didn't exactly expect you to put it that way, but yes. I just wanted to make sure you know that this is all suppose to be top secret." Misato said with a bright red blush on her cheeks at being made fun of.

"Sure, sure. I won't tell them what I really am, what we're really fighting, or what I'm really piloting. Of course, since it _is_ a little hard to not have seen that big demon walking around out there yesterday, I'm not going to deny it's existence or anything like that. If they can figure out on their own that I'm the new pilot, then I won't deny it. Alright?" Shinji asked as he was settling down.

"Agreed. We really don't expect you to keep your status as an Evangelion pilot secret. Everyone at the school knows that Rei is a pilot, so it's alright if they know about you being one too. Just don't go talking about demons and all that. At least not until the Commander clears it to become public knowledge." Misato pleaded weakly.

"Which will never happen." Shinji pointed out.

"Right." Misato admitted.

"Sure thing Misato. No one would have believed me anyways." Shinji said with a shrug, having been expecting something like this all along.

Shinji laughed a bit to himself before continuing on.

"You probably wouldn't believe this Misato... but most people don't believe that I'm a demon until I show them proof or I have to save them from one." he said sarcastically.

"I never would have guessed."

-later-

Since the actual angel battle had taken place just the night before, the city was mostly still cleaning up. Even though they had already opened up several sections of the city that hadn't been involved in the battle, few stores were opening so soon after something as colossal as a battle between an angel and an Eva. Misato drove them around for nearly two hours looking for a clothing store. It wasn't easy, but eventually they found such a store.

"Finally." Shinji said with a relieved sigh as they pulled into a parking space at the clothing store. "I don't know if I could have withstood anymore of this slow driving." he said with a smirking grin.

Misato eyed him warily for a few seconds, honestly wondering if he was serious or not. After all, she had only known Shinji for a day, and she didn't actually know all that much about him. He didn't seemed fazed by her driving habits, which relieved her as she was rather annoyed with everyone getting so worked up about it. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he was used to riding with someone who drove more extreme then she herself did.

"Hey Shinji...?" she began to ask, pausing as she got out and shut her door. "...does your guardian Dante drive more... recklessly then I do?" she asked with a curious look to her face, trying to imagine what kind of stunts this Dante guy might make in a car.

"Huh? Sure, I suppose... but I was actually referring to my own driving. Sorry Misato, but when you're not afraid to die in a car wreck, you quickly get used to taking whatever you're driving to the limit. Besides, both Dante and Lady are killers with a motorcycle, literally." Shinji said with a wide smile.

"Literally? You mean they... kill with their motorcycles?" Misato asked, more then a little confused.

"Yup. In Lady's case, she likes to set demons on fire by revving the engine and letting the flames do all her work. In Dante's case... well, he likes to use it as a club." Shinji said with a chuckle at the memories of Dante teaching him to properly use a motorcycle as a lethal weapon.

"A club?" Misato asked disbelievingly, her eyebrows raised as high as they could go.

"Yup. A club. I like it too, but I wouldn't use _my_ motorcycle like that." Shinji said as they reached the store's entrance.

"_You_ have your own motorcycle!" Misato exclaimed loud enough to get the stares of the few people actually in the store, most of which were the people working there.

Shinji shrugged before answering. "Yeah. I just had to leave it back at the shop for now. I can have it sent up as soon as NERV gets me a license to drive it around here. Normally I wouldn't care about that, but I figure I wouldn't want to give NERV a bad image by having one of their oh so important pilots getting pulled over without one." he said with a small chuckle.

"You have your own motorcycle..." Misato whimpered once more before deciding to try and ignore it for now and find him his school clothes.

Spotting the proper colored dress pants and shirts at the front of the school clothes section, Misato made a bee-line for them. She had to be careful, because in this store, the men's underwear was only thirty feet to the left of the school clothes section, and she didn't want to be side tracked by Ritsuko's earlier playful suggestion. At least, she thought that she was only being playful. That was Ritsuko, one minute cold and serious minded, the next moment she was almost normal, and then the next she was somewhat single minded about pursuing someone that caught her eye. The scary thing was that she almost never failed to get a guy if she wanted him, no matter how hard he resisted. It was just that she rarely felt like going after anyone.

Misato got a goofy grin to her face when she remembered the time that Kaji flirted with Ritsuko enough that she finally became interested in him. Kaji had thought that it would be fun to suddenly play hard to get and resist her advancements on him. He hadn't lasted half the day before she had broken him down. He of course didn't try to resist very hard, but she had really expected him to last longer.

Then there was the time that she genially took an interest in a guy during college. She decided that she wanted him, and that she would have him. The only problem had been that he was gay. After three weeks, Ritsuko had her man. The poor guy was dumped by her a few weeks later when they graduated.

She laughed to herself as she wondered what had happened to him after that...

"Misato!" Shinji exclaimed as he had been waving his hand in her face for the last two minutes. "Misato!"

"Huh?" she asked as she finally came out of her own little world of memories.

One look at Shinji's annoyed expression and Misato figured out what had happened. She blushed and smiles weakly at him in a silent apology before looking back at the clothes to cover her embarrassment. Deciding to move on, Misato pointed at the clothes and turned back to Shinji.

"Pick out some clothes that are your size, go try them on, and if they fit we'll buy enough to get you through a week." she said, trying to ignore the look on Shinji's face that told her he hadn't forgotten her spacing episode.

"You know, I wouldn't mind you going off to la la land like that, except you were staring right at the men's lingerie section." Shinji stated sourly.

"I was?" Misato asked in embarrassment, her face burning with a blush now.

Shinji smiled wide and bright as he answered. "Nope. Just messing with you. You were actually just staring at the school shirts." Shinji said with a chuckle as he grabbed a shirt, pants, and a pair of shoes and headed for the changing rooms.

As soon as he was securely behind a closed door, Misato let out the breath she had been holding as a small nervous chuckle. Why had he mentioned men's lingerie? Had he heard Ritsuko's remark somehow, and thus their entire conversation, or had he and Ritsuko had some kind of joke about it earlier? She was getting nervous just thinking about it, so she tried to just focus on something else.

Try as she might, she couldn't think about anything for very long, other then what Shinji might look like in a school uniform. Her eyes took a far off look as she remembered what Shinji had looked like in the plug suite, a smile spreading on her face. Shaking her head, she scolded herself silently for thinking like that when she was trying to gain more control over herself. Rolling her eyes, she went to find a seat to sit on until Shinji was out. At least, she chuckled inwardly, she had managed to avoid thinking about what Shinji would have looked like _without_ the school uniform or plug suite.

'He has his own motorcycle...' she thought to herself, going back to being depressed about it to keep her from thinking about more tempting thoughts.

"Hey Misato..." Shinji called out just as she sat down.

"Yeah?" she called out back.

Shinji opened the door to the changing rooms, now fully dressed in a school uniform. It fit him well, not being too tight or loose, though it still managed to show his muscles well. Misato had to admit that while she had never really had a thing about school boys, Shinji's outfit could get her started down a road to liking the look a lot. On him at least.

"Does the school have a gym uniform?" he asked as he came out and walked a little to get a feel for the clothes.

"Uh... Yeah." Misato said as she tried to remember what it was. Looking around the school clothes section a bit, she finally pointed towards a rack of jump suite-like outfits that were what most schools had for a gym uniform, including Shinji's new school. "There you go. A few of those should do." she finally said, managing to keep from staring at Shinji too much.

"Thanks." Shinji said as he walked over and grabbed one of the hanging uniforms and headed back for the changing rooms.

'Those schoolgirls won't know what hit them...' Misato thought to herself as she just stared at the door to the changing room that Shinji was in.

"Hey Misato?" Shinji called out again.

"Yeah?" she asked, wondering what clothes Shinji was going to try on and model next.

"Would it be too much trouble to get me my license soon. Those demons I mentioned will start arriving in a few days, and we don't want them to get to causing trouble because I couldn't get to them fast enough. Unless you have no problem with me flying around the city in full demon trigger?" Shinji asked with a chuckle, still in the changing room.

"You can fly?" Misato found herself asking, knowing that she really shouldn't be surprised by it, but she couldn't help but be surprised at hearing that Shinji could fly.

"For a while, yeah. I mean, you really didn't think that those wings of mine are for decoration, did you?" Shinji asked sarcastically. "It's a little tiring, but I can probably fly around the city a few times before having to change back and not have to change to my devil trigger for a while." he answered plainly before opening the door and stepping out.

Once again Shinji's outfit fit him nicely. The gym uniform was tight here and there, showing his muscled frame, but it was loose enough for him to move around in easily. It didn't flatter him as well as his tight black shirt did, but it wasn't as loose as his baggy brown jeans. Misato thought it looked good on him, so she decided to throw caution to the wind and began clapping.

"Very nice looking Shinji." she said with a smile.

Shinji looked at her with those confident eyes of his and gave her a big smile. It wasn't a smile of superiority or arrogance, but a smile of aplomb and appreciation of being complimented. Soon that smile became a smirk, but a friendly one.

"Thanks Misato. So what do you say about me getting my license soon?" Shinji asked.

Misato sat back for a moment, thinking about how she would go about doing something like that. Deciding that it wouldn't really be hard for NERV to arrange for something like that, and that the commander would approve of it since it meant Shinji getting to NERV faster incase of emergency, she nodded to herself. It wouldn't take long at all.

"Sure Shinji. Just let me borrow your license that you have now, and I'll have you a license for Japan by tomorrow when you come in after school for tests." Misato said as she gave him a smile of her own.

"Thanks Misato. It should only take two days or so to get my motorcycle up here, so it won't be a moment too soon. I'll have it in time to start cleaning up the trash that show up around the city. Maybe I'll take you for a ride when it gets here...?" Shinji offered as he went back into the changing room to change out of the track suit.

Misato blushed and nodded hard, blushing again in embarrassment as she realized he couldn't see her.

"I'd like that Shinji. I'd like that a lot." she said with a great deal of enthusiasm.

"Great! Don't worry, I won't be using it as a club while you're on it." Shinji said with a chuckle.

"Thanks. I'd appreciate it." Misato said wryly, rolling her eyes and smiling to herself.

-later-

"So that's what your school is like. Now that you've met with the faculty and know where to go, have any questions?" Misato asked as they were walking out of the school and heading for the car.

"Since you explained and demonstrated every single tradition and protocol three times already... not really. Though, I especially enjoyed watching you demonstrate the bow the class does at the start of the day. The view from behind was great. I wouldn't mind seeing you do that again...?" Shinji said hopefully.

"Smart ass." Misato said with a smirk. "Try not to stare at my butt too much while all the teachers are looking, okay? It was hard enough convincing them that you're really fourteen and not some college age student being held back or something. I'm pretty sure that every female teacher there was jealous of me, thinking we were lovers or something from how old you look, and the way you kept checking me out." Misato said with a chuckle.

"Hey!" Shinji began to defend himself. "It's not my fault that you kept showing me the bow over and over again."

"I wouldn't have had to if you would have just got it right the first time." Misato accused.

"I didn't know you were being serious. I thought you were teasing me and giving me a show at the same time." Shinji said with a shrug.

"Liar." Misato accused. "You knew I was serious all along. You just wanted to see me bend over more." she said with a mixture of an accusing tone, and a smirk of playfulness on her face.

"Well," Shinji said with a large grin plastered on his face, "you got me there." he finished with his customary smirk.

Misato couldn't help but laugh.

After the car was speeding back towards the apartment, they had settled into a comfortable silence. Misato was actually watching the road as she drove, obeying at least half of the laws of the road, and making up a few new ones of her own to replace the old ones. Shinji was sitting back and just feeling good. He did have a pretty good time teasing Misato by getting the bow wrong over and over again, forcing her to show him how to do it again, giving him plenty of eye candy to look at.

"Hey Shinji?" Misato asked, breaking the silence with a curious tone to her voice.

"Yeah Misato?" Shinji replied, still leaning back in the chair.

"You can just change forms and fly around the sky?" Misato asked, mostly to confirm it to herself.

"Yeah..." Shinji replied.

"Well, I noticed that you're somewhere in the realm of inhumanly strong... so, could you support me if you decided to take me flying with you?" Misato asked, her voice slightly unsure.

"Yeah, I could. Are you asking me to take you flying some time?" Shinji asked as he brought the seat back up to better be involved in the conversation.

"Well... yeah, I guess I am." Misato admitted slowly, still unsure of herself.

"I don't know if you would like it as much as you think Misato. You remember seeing what I looked like when I was changed... I really do look like a demon then. I'm not all that pretty, and am actually pretty ugly to tell the truth." Shinji explained to her.

"Yeah, well, you're not all that ugly. Sure, you don't exactly look human, but it's not all that bad... because it's still you." Misato said in a quite tone, just above a whisper.

Shinji smirked again and looked at Misato with a chuckle escaping his lips. He felt truly flattered by her words. It made him feel pretty good to have her say something that nice about him.

"Thanks Misato... Sure. We'll try it sometime soon, and see if you like it. Let me get through this batch of demons coming, and then we'll try it. I don't want to do it any sooner so I can save my strength. It's hard to hold my devil trigger for a long time..." Shinji said with a smile.

Misato's eyes lit up as she smiled at Shinji. Quickly she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Almost before he could blink though, she was back at the wheel and driving as normal, reckless and fast. Shinji looked dumbly at her for a moment, before smirking again and shaking his head side to side.

"Thanks Shinji." Misato said with a big smile, her confidence back full force.

"You're welcome Misato. It's no problem at all." Shinji said with a light laugh, happy with Misato being happy.

Misato casually changed course for a different destination.

-later-

"Where are we?" Shinji asked as he got out of the car.

"Somewhere special..." Misato answered.

They were parked on a large hill at the edge of Tokyo 3. It over looked the entire city, showing a mostly barren sight. Few buildings the size of a sky scraper were anywhere to be seen. It was rather small looking compared to most large cities. It certainly didn't portray what most described as a massive city, a fortress for man-kind, nor a gathering place for those who would face against the angels. It looked large and wide, but empty of the usual large buildings.

"Well, I know where we are, but I'm actually asking why we're here." Shinji asked again.

"I'm doing something to repay you for your promise. You promised to let me see the city from a whole new perspective, and so I'm going to let you see the city you saved from a new perspective." Misato answered with a smile.

Just then the alarms sounded and the buildings began to rise from the ground. It was slow moving, but what more could one expect from buildings that were growing from the ground up. It was an amazing sight to see, as in only moments the city was suddenly filled and covered in large buildings, showing signs of human life. Now the city projected an air of confidence and life to all who viewed it.

Shinji smiled at that. He had of course known about all of that before he ever arrived, but he knew the gesture that Misato was making. It brought a happy smile to his face to see that Misato wanted him to experience pride and wonder, seeing the world through new eyes. She was giving him this wonderful sight as a gift, and he really did cherish it.

Letting out a light sigh of enjoyment, Shinji turned his smile on Misato. "Thanks a lot Misato. This is really great."

Misato's face lit up as she knew that her gift was appreciated.

Then confusion washed over her when she saw Shinji's smile drop into a deep frown.

Shinji suddenly rushed over to her and forced her behind him. Pistols appeared in his hands out of thin air, and he pointed them forwards towards the nearby woods of the hill. Misato looked past Shinji at the woods, but could see nothing there. She was getting worried at Shinji's nasty frown as his eyes darted over the tree line over and over again.

Then she heard a sound. At first it was small, but it kept repeating itself. It had a slow and steady rhythm, happening over and over again, getting louder each time. It sounding like a scrapping sound, like something was being dragged through the dirt. It was getting closer and closer, though slowly. Finally Misato realized that it was foot steps of someone in the woods, someone who was dragging their feet.

"What's going on Shinji?" Misato asked.

Shinji only growled as he locked his eyes and pistol sights on the sound as it came closer, almost to the tree line from the sounds of things.

Then it emerged into the light enough for Misato to see what it was. It was something from a nightmare. A skeleton was shuffling its feet towards them, its body encased in a heavy wrapping of steel and rust. It was inside of an iron maiden, a cage-like fitting that someone would be hung from a chain in above the ground and left to die. The skeleton within the iron maiden was not what you would see hanging in a science class room. It was dirty and misshapen, parts warped slightly out of proportion and other parts being twisted or bent at slight angles that shouldn't be there. It was also broken apart in places, held together by the bars of the iron maiden that encased it. Its skull was the worst, being long and stretched out, its mouth hanging open and its teeth shaped into fangs, and its empty eye sockets glowing red right at them.

In each of its hands was a large machete that was more like a giant three foot butcher knife in shape. It was stained in blood, and Misato realized that most of the rust that covered the iron maiden was not rust, but crusted and dried blood. It was shuffling towards them slowly but purposely. It's intentions could not be questioned at all. It wanted to cut them to tiny pieces.

Then two more just like it walked out of the woods behind it.

"Misato, I think you'd better get back in the car. I'll take care of these demons." Shinji said as he was slowly walking towards them, placing himself between them and Misato and the car.

Misato dumbly nodded and got in the car, starting the engine. She didn't want to leave Shinji here, but she didn't want to have to waste time starting the engine if they needed a quick get away. She just hoped that Shinji would be alright against those things.

That's when she looked in her mirror to see five large and ugly lizard-like things walking on two legs and carrying shields and wearing helmets only a few hundred feet behind her car. If she backed up, she would have to go through them. They looked big, and knowing that they were demons, she knew they were undoubtedly strong. They might be able to stop the car's movement, and then they would have her. Even in the small mirror she could see their claws and fangs, dripping with saliva.

They had locked their eyes on the car and they looked hungry.

Her eyes snapped forwards as a gun shot erupted in front of the car. This gunshot was followed by another, then another, and yet another. She looked up to see Shinji firing his twin pistols rapidly at the iron maiden-like demons as he slowly walked towards them. For the most part they shook off the bullets slamming into their bodies, but Misato could see the chips and dents forming in them slowly, but surely as he continued his assault.

In the blink of an eye his guns were gone and his sword was in his hands. He shot forwards more then fifteen feet without his feet even touching the ground with blurring speed. Misato's eyes even lost track of him for a moment as he seemed to glide over the ground towards the demons with incredible speeds. Upon reaching them he slammed his sword into the chest of the center and closest iron maiden, impaling it for only a moment before it was blown backwards off the sword again by the force of Shinji's charge.

Without pausing for a moment, Shinji turned to the iron maiden on his left and struck it upwards with his sword in a rising slash. The iron maiden went over ten feet into the air, Shinji rising up with it. When they had reached the peek of their flight, Shinji defied gravity itself by staying in the air for a moment as he slashed at the demon four times in the air, both staying until he had finished. His first slash was coming down from overhead, his second was almost horizontal but angled slightly upwards, his second traveled backwards on the same path going slightly down, and then finishing with a diagonal slash downwards.

At his final slash in the air the iron maiden shattered to pieces. Acting before he could fall to the ground, Shinji threw his sword at the third iron maiden on the right, impaling it and forcing it to the ground. In a small flash Shinji had the Beowulf equipped and charged downwards with his right foot first, slamming down into the first and center iron maiden just as it was getting up. The impact caused the front part of its cage body to crack and give way, forcing it to the ground again. Shinji did not give it another chance to get up though as he gave a three hit combo attack. His left fist struck it with a straight punch, then his right fist struck it with an uppercut, and finally his right leg gave a rising kick that shattered its body.

The whole time he was dealing with the first iron maiden, his sword was spinning inside the chest of the third iron maiden, causing the rusted and blood crusted steel of its cage to moan and its skeleton to crack within its bindings. With a thought Shinji's sword broke free of the iron maiden's body and returned to Shinji, spinning lethally all the way until it vanished again upon reaching Shinji. He turned to face the just rising iron maiden, and smirked as he sent away Beowulf and called forth his Cerberus.

Shinji leaped forward, his body going horizontal to the ground, and whirled his body around with the Cerberus held out three times, slamming the Cerberus into the iron maiden each time with lethal effects. Upon landing his brought the Cerberus around once more and finished his attack with a fourth and final slam of the icy nunchucks. The last strike shattered the iron maiden to pieces, ending the life of the demon.

Misato however did not notice this. She had been distracted by Shinji's skills at the start, but hearing the horrible screech of the lizard-things from behind her car had brought her back to the reality of her situation. She looked back in fear at the horrible demons that were now running straight for her car, only two hundred feet away and closing fast. She glanced around in a panic. Shinji and the demons he was still fighting were in front of her, so she couldn't go that way. The woods and a sharp incline in the hill was to her right, so no way she was getting her car up there without hitting a tree or getting stuck. The cliff was to her left, so no way she was going there either. Gritting her teeth and gripping the wheel in a white-knuckled embrace she came up with the only plan she could.

She gunned it backwards.

The lizards didn't seem fazed by this move as the stayed somewhat spread out, each hoping that she would swerve towards them so they would catch her and they could enjoy a tasty meal. Misato drove her foot as hard down on the accelerator as she could, keeping a straight path until she was only ten feet from the lizards, heading right for one.

Suddenly she turned hard and brought the car up on two wheels, barely managing to get her car through the space between two of the lizard-men. As her car continued to turn her driver's wheel slammed into the face of the lizard on her driver's side, knocking it back and onto its ass. Unfortunately its teeth had caught most of the blow, so they had dug into the tire and popped it. Misato nearly jumped out of her seat in fright as the lizard on the passenger side had caught part of the roof with its claws, cutting a deep path through the roof right by her head.

She continued the turn until she had brought the car around suddenly and landed on all four wheels with the lizards now behind her, and she was turned completely around. Again she slammed on the gas, but her car was sluggish to respond. She was now off of the paved road and in the dirt, and her popped tire wouldn't catch any friction with the loose dirt, causing her to swerve to the left. She had a hard time compensating, and it cost her precious time. Time she didn't have.

Sure enough one of the lizard things managed to turn around in time to tackle into the back of the car.

The impact sent her suddenly onto the paved road and turned her right for the railing. She panicked and slammed on her brakes, swerving to turn away from the cliff. Her car went into a spin, but she managed to stop right at the edge of the railing. She didn't even have time to breath a sigh of relief as suddenly her car died. She hadn't had time to get it fixed from the damage it had received in the shockwave of the N2 mine explosion the day before, and the impact from the lizard creature tackling the car had shaken the batteries and engine enough to kill her car.

She would have wept, at her car being broken, at her having no where to run, at her fright of the demons coming after her, but she simply didn't have any time.

As soon as Shinji had finished the third iron maiden he turned to go to Misato's assistance. Almost the moment he had laid eyes on her car spinning for the railing, the air in front of him shattered like glass breaking and eight demons leaped to the ground. They were all Hell Prides, all wearing the same dark robes and having the same scrawny skeleton-like bodies. All wielded the same deadly scythe. They were the same as the one Shinji kept in his room, and he narrowed his eyes at them as his lips frowned even more. He would have to mow through them to get to Misato.

Shinji dashed forwards so that he was right in the face of a Pride. It swung at him with its scythe, but he stepped aside and let it hit nothing but air. He performed at ten part combo with his Cerberus nunchucks, two upwards vertical strikes, two horizontal strikes going one way then back again, he then finished with six upwards vertical strikes. The Pride exploded in sand that Shinji charged through with a leap and a single whirl of his body, striking another Pride and knocking it off balance. He landed and jutted his arm forwards with Cerberus's ring over his wrist, spinning the nunchucks around rapidly like a propeller a dozen times in only a second or two, slicing the Pride to pieces as it burst into sand as well.

Side stepping another Pride's slash attack, Shinji whirled Cerberus around his body upwards five times to send the Pride stumbling back in pain, nearly finished off. Shinji let Cerberus return to the air as he had his sword, Eva, back in his hands in an instant. He threw it at another Pride to impale it before turning back at the still stumbling Pride he had attacked with Cerberus, kicking at it with his left leg. The kick blew it to dust before he equipped himself with Beowulf, leaving his sword spinning in the torso of the Pride he had impaled with it.

Seeing another Pride about to strike him with its scythe, he stopped it by ramming into it at blurring speeds again, this time slamming it with his fist. The Pride was thrown back. Shinji turned to another Pride that hadn't been expecting him to suddenly be beside it. He stepped forward practically into its face as he struck upwards with his right fist hard, sending both it and himself upwards into the air, spinning his body to increase the force of the blow. It burst into sand in the air, and he came down foot first in another attack on the Pride he had punched backwards, crushing it beneath his heal. It burst into sand under his foot.

The Eva sword returned to Shinji again, but he let it vanish once more as he began another combo with Beowulf against a Pride that had thought it had snuck up behind him. First a straight left punch, then a right uppercut, then a dozen blurred kicks forward with his right leg, and finally finishing with a right axe kick that finished the Pride off. Sending Beowulf away, Shinji gripped his sword once again and lunged forwards in another blurred dash and impaled the Pride he had thrown Eva at before, smashing blade first into it. It burst into sand that dispersed around Shinji.

The final Pride leaped into the air and landed behind Shinji, but never got the chance to attack. Shinji turned faster then it had thought he could, and spun his sword by the hilt at it, spinning the sword like a cowboy would spin his pistol, cutting upwards into the Pride with the blade several times, and launching the Pride upwards. Lifting his other hand, Shinji had his shotgun ready and blasted the Pride back through the air with a double-barreled buckshot. As it landed hard against the ground, Shinji charged his sword with energy, causing it to glow red for a moment before he swung it with both hands upwards at the fallen Pride. A shockwave flew off of the Eva's blade and kicked up dirt as it barreled at the downed Pride, crashing into it and bursting it into sand as it died.

Misato dove for the glove box, wanting to grab at the pistol she kept there. She hadn't thought to carry her pistol on her today, but she always kept one there, and always fully loaded. Her hands scrambled to get it open, and finally it popped open and the pistol she wanted so badly fell into her hands. She raised her head to look out the windows to see where the lizard-men were as she cocked the pistol. Immediately her eyes went wide and she ducked again as a lizard shot its claws right off its hand at her, propelling them with a build up of blood pressure. The claws crashed through the front passenger window and on through the right side of the front windshield. Misato screamed a little as the glass rained down on her for a moment, before looking up again. A terrible looking lizard-creature was standing right at the passenger door, looking down at her with drool dripping from its open jaw.

She scrambled back faster then she had ever moved on all fours in her life, barely dodging a clawed hand as the lizard thing tried to grab at her. It screeched horribly at her, and she screamed in terror back. Pointing the gun forwards she began to unload it into the thing's face. With each ear piercing shot a bullet flew into the flesh of the demon, causing its head to snap backwards, but each time it snapped its head forwards again to look at her. Each time another bullet had lodged itself into its face, disfiguring it horribly, but not causing lethal damage. About the fifth shot Misato began to realize that she wouldn't be able to kill this thing with the bullets she had in her gun. She needed something more powerful, or at least another clip or two of bullets. She had neither, and she knew she wouldn't have time to reload even if she did have another clip anyways.

She began to cry as she knew that the demon was going to get her as soon as she ran dry of bullets, which wasn't far off.

The other lizard creatures were charging at her car too, each wanting to have their share of the meal, but all stopped when bullets began to rip into their backs. Shinji ran as fast as he could towards Misato's car, his Uzi's in both hands, firing at the demons the whole way. They turned to face him, shrugging off the pain of the assault of bullets. One tried to slash at him with its claws just as he reached it, but he leaped high into the air above it, switching to his pistols as he spun through the air upside down, raining bullets down on their helmets and shoulders as he passed right over them.

Just as he cleared them, he flipped over again, and leaped again while still in the air. His demon powers formed a magic platform under his feet that only lasted half a second, but it was long enough for him to gain more air time. Just them Misato ran out of bullets and the demon at her passenger door roared in triumph as it sank its claws into the doorframe. It never managed to tare the door away though as Shinji came down on it with his sword first in a slash that sliced right through its helmet and its skull which Misato's desperate assault had softened, cutting down until the demon had been cut in half.

It stood there for a moment before its body fell away in two pieces. Shinji looked into the car at Misato with a reassuring smile, happy that he had made it in time to save her. She weakly smiled back at him, just glad that she hadn't wet herself when she ran out of bullets. Shinji nodded at her before turning back to face the demons.

"Alright you fucking bastards... I don't know why you're here so much earlier then I expected, but I'm going to send you back to hell just as fast as you came!" Shinji shouted in righteous anger as he stared hard at the demons still approaching.

He threw his sword at one demon, catching it in the chest as he had all the times before. As it fell backwards, Shinji charged forwards at the closest lizard-demon, holding his shotgun first. He rammed the double barreled shotgun into the chest of the demon and fired a blast of magically charged buckshot into its chest, blowing a hole through its body with a burst of red light. Even as it fell back Shinji pulled out his Uzi's and unloaded into the face of another lizard-demon. Its head snapped back and its skull was quickly overcome by the concentrated assault of bullets, splattering its head apart. Shinji let the Uzi's vanish and equipped Cerberus and moved onto the next demon.

He whirled through the air three times and slammed into it a fourth time again, cutting its body hard and knocking it to the ground. Shinji whirled around and equipped Beowulf before leaping into the air and coming down with a lethal kick to the still impaled demon. It burst into a spray of blood under his foot and he grabbed his sword again. Both the Eva sword and Beowulf disappeared again as he dashed back to the downed lizard-demon. Catching it still lying on the ground from his previous attack, Shinji planted his foot down on it hard and drew his pistols. He fired down into it dozens of times at such speed that Misato could only see a blur and a constant flash of muzzle fire. When he was done shooting it, he violently kicked away the corpse. It flew over the railing and tumbled down the cliff.

Misato felt her heart relax as it was finally over, and she had survived. Shinji had saved her from the demons and hadn't even worked up a sweat. She would have to relax a bit first, but she just knew that she would be truly amazed at his skills, just as soon as she stopped trying to have a heart attack.

A shadow fell over Misato's car, and she looked out the front windshield to see what was causing it. Her heart jumped and her breath caught for a moment as she saw what was in front of the car. It was a gigantic worm that was almost the size of a house. The worst part of the worm though, was the fact that it had a mouth. Not only did it have a mouth, but that mouth was about the same size of her car. It loomed over her for a moment, seemingly looking down at the car with out having any eyes to do so.

It had caught her scent and it was hungry.

Shinji heard Misato scream. He had no idea why she screamed because he couldn't see her, but he didn't get to immediately find out as a sharp scythe cut down into his right shoulder. Shinji whirled away from his attacker, seeing that it was a Hell Sloth, a demon capable of teleporting in a burst of sand. It was skinny like the Hell Pride, but it was robed in a large white robe and had a white hood that stood up slightly rather then a hood that joined the robe. It's scythe was also different, having a shorter blade, but still being just as deadly. It had snuck up on him as he hadn't even known it was around, and used its chance to attack him.

But what caused him to begin to panic was the sight of the worm that was in front of Misato's car. The Sloth stood between him and Misato, and he would have to get past it to help her. Suddenly the air behind the Sloth broke like glass as more demons appeared to block his path. Six Hell Prides joined the Sloth in standing between Shinji and Misato. Shinji heard more shattering sounds and knew that at least three demons were behind him now as well. A glance back told him they were Hell Lusts, demons like the Sloth and Prides with skeletal-like bodies and sharp scythes, but were covered in red cloth outfits with white feathers on parts. They were known for being faster then the Prides, dodging better and lunging forward twenty or more feet when they attacked.

Misato tried desperately to get her car to start, but the engine only whined and refused to cooperate.

Shinji knew that he would have to fight through, and didn't hesitate a moment longer as he pulled out his Alastor sword. With a swing he sent it flying at a Pride, spinning parallel to the ground constantly in its flight until it connected with the Pride, continuing to spin as it started to chop into the Pride. Acting fast Shinji threw his Eva sword to impale another Pride before launching forward at the Sloth with Beowulf equipped. He connected the first two punches of his three hit combo before it teleported away in a burst of sand. Not letting it faze him, Shinji knew that it would have to appear somewhere else before it could come at him again to attack. He immediately turned on another Pride with a dash forward at it and a hard punch that sent it flying back. Turning to another he gave it a hard uppercut that launched them both upwards, spinning his body again to add to the impact. It burst into sand as it died, and he came down in a hard kick on the Pride he had punched, finishing it as well.

Misato knew now that her car was worthless to her and she tried to leap from it to make a run for it, but the worm had other ideas. It moved with speed that such a large body should be incapable of moving at and scooped the front of Misato's car up in its mouth, wrapping it around the front two doors of Misato's car. She couldn't force her door open, so she scrambled into the back seat.

Shinji's Eva sword returned to him while Alastor was still cutting into the Pride it was attacking. Shinji gave it no mind as he pulled his pistols and leaped into the air, flipping upside down and twirling around and around, firing straight down on the Pride that he had impaled with Eva. The rain of bullets finished shredding the Pride until it burst into sand, and Shinji flipped over again and came down on yet another Pride with his Eva sword, slicing hard into it. Just then the Sloth appeared behind him to attack him again, but it was unlucky as Alastor began to fly back and cut deeply into its back before reaching Shinji and vanishing again. It was distracted long enough for Shinji to turn and attack it again.

He lunged forwards with a step and sliced upwards into the Sloth with his Eva sword, sending them both into the air. Again he defied gravity as he sliced four times in the air, hovering to do so, and finally came down with a downward slice into the Sloth. It fell hard to the ground as Shinji planted his foot on it and fired down into it with his pistols. The Sloth proved to be much stronger then the Prides as it withstood Shinji's assault and he kicked it away. He immediately turned around and blasted with his shotgun into the Pride behind him he had attacked before, bursting it into sand.

As soon as Misato managed to roll over the seats and into the back seat, she clawed desperately at the door lock, unlocking it and shoving it open. Before she could dive out of the car though, the worm-demon took a hard gulp and swallowed the car into its mouth another three feet, forcing the door shut again and pinning it that way. Another gulp and both doors were covered completely. Only the back window and the trunk hung out of the giant worm-demons' mouth.

Misato desperately banged against the glass of the back window with her bare hands, as she had dropped her pistol in the front seat. Her hands slapped against the glass, but did nothing to crack the glass. The window had managed to withstand the shockwave of an N2 blast, and it wasn't about to give way under the assault of Misato's bare hands. Still she banged against it and screamed. She could see Shinji trying to fight his way through the demons that blocked his path to get to her. She could do nothing now but stare and scream for him.

She had never screamed so hard in her life. She didn't even understand what she was screaming now. She only picked up on the words "Shinji" and "help" as she screamed in panic and fear. Panic was overcoming her and all she could do is scream her lungs out.

Shinji heard her screams quite clearly and gritted his teeth, knowing there was no time left to deal with these pesky demons. He turned his back on them, something he never did in a fight, and ran to help Misato. This move proved costly as the Sloth suddenly appeared in front of him and drove its scythe down into his chest, impaling him right through. The three Lusts chose that moment to lunge forwards as well and sank their scythes into his back. Even the Pride leaped into the air and came down with its scythe stabbing into his left shoulder.

Shinji was stunned from the pain for a moment, but growled in a low, angry tone when he recovered his senses. In a flash he had Beowulf around his fists and feet, and he forced himself to move despite the scythes buried in his body. He reached down and slammed his fist into the ground, and a bright white light erupted upwards around him engulfing the demons in its heat. The only remaining Pride was burnt to death and exploded in sand, while the three Lusts and the Sloth were blown back by the attack, their scythes coming loose with them.

Shinji gave no mercy as he leaped up and came down on a Lust with his right foot, stomping it into sand as it died. The other demons stood to their feet, but Shinji only growled as he pulled out his Grenade gun. He aimed and fired it at a sluggish Lust, blowing it to sand in the resulting explosion. Drawing his sword Shinji charged in and impaled the remaining Lust on it, sending it flying back before he leaped over it and rained bullets down on it with his pistols, ripping its body to sand as it died..

The moment he landed the Sloth teleported beside him and attacked. Shinji side-stepped the attack and attacked back with a combo with his sword. A slash going down from over head, a slash horizontally, another slash horizontally going slightly up, a diagonal slash going down, then he finished with a body spin and going into a series of over a dozen forwards stabs a blurring speeds, then a final forwards stab that launched the still surviving Sloth away and to the ground. Now it was near death. He dashed forwards with his shotgun again, this time firing three magically charged blasts of red energy down into the Sloth, finally killing it as it turned to sand and was blown away from the blasts.

Finally free of the interference from the demons, Shinji turned to go to Misato's assistance. His eyes quickly found the giant worm-demon and Shinji nearly froze. He had never seen anything as frightening as Misato's tail lights going down that giant demon's mouth and into its throat since his teacher had been killed by a Hell Pride ten years ago. It filled him with a bone-chilling fear, and a blood boiling rage at the same time, and he acted on the rage. He was going to save Misato, and kill this foolish demon for daring to attempting to harm someone he cared about.

With a shout of anger Shinji tore forwards, his feet kicking up dirt and rocks as he ran faster then he had ever run in his life. The demon sensed his approach and opened its maw to attempt to swallow him up. It hadn't even needed to try as Shinji dove through the air straight down its throat. The worm-demon shut its mouth and swallowed as it thought about the good meal it had found today.

It started to move back towards the woods to await someone else to come by, when it suddenly stopped. A slight bulge was all that told of the car somewhere between its mouth and it stomach, and it had been moving steadily towards its stomach since it had swallowed it. However, it had stopped now, and the flesh around it began to turn blue.

The flesh continued to turn blue until finally frost began to gather as it froze completely in that section. Seconds passed by as its throat was turned to ice, and it writhed in pain. Finally though, a sword pierced quickly through its frozen body and completely cut its head off from its body. Shinji leaped up and out of the body, Misato safely held in his left arm as his right arm still held his Eva sword.

He landed some twenty feet from the worm-demon's decapitated body and gently set the shocked and scared Misato down. She clung tightly to Shinji for a few moments even as his sword disappeared and he held her in a tight hug and then held her back. His eyes roamed over her completely before he lightly felt over her for injury.

"Are you alright Misato!" he exclaimed, worry heavy in his voice.

Misato didn't respond at first and it worried him greatly.

"Misato!" he shouted, and Misato quickly blinked and buried her face in his shoulder and started to cry for nearly a minute.

He just held her like that as she cried. When she started to calm down he tried to hold her back again. Now he could plainly see the cuts on her arms and right leg from when her windows broke from the demon-lizard shot its claws at her. Other then that he could see no injury, but those few cuts only served to enrage him more.

"Misato! Are you alright?" he asked again, his voice firm but reassuring.

"Y-yes. Yes. I'm alright. I'm not hurt..." Misato finally said before trying to regain her composure.

Just then they heard the strange moans of the somehow still living worm-demon behind them. Shinji's eyes narrowed into slits as he turned to look at the demon's two halves squirming. A low growl escaped his lips as he stared hard at the target of his inhuman rage.

"Misato, I'm going to let you go for a minute. I promise that I'll be right back, and that nothing will happen to you. I just have to deal with something for a minute. Okay?" Shinji asked in a voice that was barely suppressing his rage.

Misato knew full well what he was going to deal with, and she slowly nodded her head.

"Alright Shinji. I'll be fine." she promised him.

"Good." he said before letting her go.

With that he stood and turned towards the worm-demon. He slowly began to walk towards it, each step was heavy and purposeful. Finally when he was ten feet from the squirming demon, Shinji drew his Eva sword and growled at the demon.

"You... Are... **DEAD!**" Shinji shouted in rage as he transformed into his devil trigger.

His voice became distorted as he let out a shout that was little more then a blast of pure rage and hate as he attacked the demon. He hacked and slashed and burnt and froze and blasted and crushed and attacked that demon until there was nothing but a smoking crater in the ground where it had been. When he was finished a minute later, he stepped back and spit at the dirt before shifting back to his human form in the blink of an eye. He turned back to Misato and let his weapons fade away.

Walking back over he kneeled next to the still sitting Misato. She had silently sat back and watched him vent his demonic rage without uttering so much as a word. Now she stared at him with blank eyes, not sure of what to think. He looked at her too for a moment, that rage still there for only a second before his eyes softened into concern and worry. When he reached for her, she didn't back away. Instead she tackled him in a hug and began to sob again.

She had thought that she was going to die for sure when the light had been cut off by the worm's mouth.

Shinji carefully removed his cell phone from his pocket several minutes later when Misato had finished having her cry. Still holding her with his left arm, he dialed up NERV with his right hand. He was going to call for a transport to take Misato back home. After that... he had work to do.

These demons didn't come to the city on their own. They were too group orientated and they had come too early. Someone had summoned them here, and had been giving them orders. Shinji was going to find that someone. When he did, he was going to kill them...

-that night-

Shinji had been on the verge of going nuts by the time the med-unit from NERV had gotten there to pick up Misato. They were to take her back to NERV to be checked over by Ritsuko, and it had seemed like it took them forever to get there. When they had finally arrived, he had intended to send Misato with them so he could go hunt down the bastard that was summoning demons in Tokyo-3. Instead they had insisted that he go with them to be checked out too. A not so kind word from his black pistol Lady had silenced them, but not Misato. She had asked him to go with her back to NERV. It would make her feel better.

Shinji had gone with her back to NERV without any more resistance.

Still, the moment that she said that she would be alright with him leaving her alone for a while, he had begun his hunt through the city. It had taken him several hours, but he had finally located the summoner that had been summoning demons. He had tracked his stench to a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, rather close to the cliff Misato had taken him to and where they were attacked. It absolutely stunk of demons, and Shinji could literally feel the power coming from the warehouse, telling him that the person in there was summoning demons even as Shinji stared hard at the warehouse.

The guy in there was fucking dead... he just didn't know it yet.

With a mighty roar of inhuman rage, Shinji ripped a hole through the roof and fell into the far side of the warehouse. It was completely empty of anything that would be stored inside of any normal warehouse. Instead this place was stocked full of freshly summoned demons. Demons of all kinds that Shinji knew of.

All demons stopped what they were doing at turned to stare at the still crouching Shinji as he scanned the warehouse looking for his prey. He saw a dozen Blades, the name for the lizard-men demons, a few dozen Hell Prides, ten Hell Lusts, three Hell Sloths, twenty Agonofinis, the name of the iron maiden demons with the hatchets, ten Terreofinis, the name for iron maiden demons with two long swords rather then hatchets, four Mortifinis, the name of iron maiden demons with two spiked disks that it could throw and catch like yo-yo's, five Pulas, the name for large vulture-like demons that could throw their feathers like arrows or claw at their enemies, and two Hell Vanguards, large demons much like the Hell Pride but much stronger, with pure black robes and the ability to teleport even better then the Hell Sloths. The place was full of demons, but Shinji wasn't interested in them at all. Finally though he spotted his prey.

A single human was in the center of the building, flanked by the Vanguards.

He was somewhere in his mid-thirties, stood almost six feet tall, and had black hair that was stringy and thin. His facial hair was sparse and unkept, growing in small patches. His eyes were green and blood-shot, while his face was twisted in a mix between anger and alarm. His was skinny and weak looking, but he radiated with dark power. It wasn't much power though. Shinji could feel that he was only a second rate summoner, but he was using the angel's natural lure for powerful smaller demons to amplify his own summoning and controlling powers. He looked at Shinji with a wild look in his eyes, not knowing wither to order his demon minions to attack Shinji, or to run.

He did both.

With a gruff shout he sent the full force of his demon minions at Shinji and then ran for the main door. When he reached the door he could hear the combat going on behind him, but didn't dare to turn to look at it. He ripped the door open and escaped outside, slamming it shut behind him and locking it.

When he turned around again he was face-to-face with a _very_ angry Shinji.

"What! How!" the man exclaimed before Shinji drove his sword through his shoulder and into the warehouse door, pinning him there.

"Let's just say I can be in two places at once..." Shinji said in a dark, hate-filled tone as he stared hard at the man. "How that is really doesn't matter right now. All you should be thinking about is the place you've reserved yourself in hell." he said coldly.

Shinji changed into his devil trigger and tore into the still nameless man. When he was done, there was no body left behind, only a hole in the door and a smoking crater where the man had been before, screaming all the way to the end. Shinji once again spat before drawing his sword and rushing into the warehouse to help his doppleganger clean up the mess of demons. The force of demons was vast, yes, but they never knew what hit them when Shinji tore into them.

It was less then an hour later that Shinji came home to the apartment.

-back at the apartment-

There was a knock on Misato's door. She had been lying in bed, wondering where Shinji was, for the last hour. She actually hadn't bothered drinking more then three beers tonight, so she was still sober when she heard the knock. Rolling over to face the door, she sat up and brushed her hair out of her face.

"Come in." she called.

The door opened to reveal Shinji standing there, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Misato... I'm sorry for what happened today. I should have done better..." he said slowly, only to be interrupted by Misato.

"It's alright Shinji. You saved me, so there's nothing to be apologizing for." Misato assured him suddenly.

Shinji didn't even smile.

"Misato, I was overconfident today. If I had just grabbed you and flown you to somewhere safe, I could have returned to kill off the demons later. Your safety should have been my biggest priority, but I wasted too much time. I should have gotten you out first thing..." Shinji said, only to be interrupted again.

"It's alright Shinji. You got me out safely. You couldn't have known that so many demons would show up. You did the best you could. Besides... I saw you get cut down trying to come to my rescue before you killed the demons off... That was the last thing I could make out, and I thought you were dead..." Misato paused for a moment. "That's when I started to cry. I thought we were both going to die..." she said with a bit of a depressed tone, but she shed no tears. "I'm glad you're alright." she said with a small smile.

Shinji snorted and came to sit next to her. His eyes were locked on the bandages she wore on her arms and her leg.

"_I'm_ glad that _you're_ alright. I'm sorry that you got hurt, and it's my fault. I'll do better if it happens again... I promise." Shinji said, finally letting himself relax.

"Thanks Shinji. Thank you for saving me today." Misato said before giving him a peck on the cheek. "Now get out of here, you've got school in the morning and you have to walk. Since my car got destroyed, you'll have to leave an hour or so earlier so you can pick up a uniform to wear before you head to school, so you had better get some sleep." Misato chided playfully.

Shinji smiled wide at that and finally smirked again. "Thanks Misato." he said before going back to the door. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Shinji." Misato said with a large smile of her own before he shut the door.

Misato sat like that in bed for a while, thinking about the events of the day. Life with Shinji was going to be a lot more eventful then she had ever thought it would be... but it definitely had its advantages. After all, she had finally been saved by her knight in shining armor just like every little girl wishes for sometime in their lives. Her knight just happened to be a half-demon in a red coat.

A smile graced Misato's lips as she thought that she wouldn't have it any other way.

-outside-

Vergil once again stood on the rooftop that he observe Shinji's apartment from. He held his phone to his ear as he listened to it ring. When the other end was picked up he did not hesitate to speak immediately.

"There was a bit of a... snag." Vergil said with some distaste. However, as soon as he had said it, he smiled openly. "It proved that he can handle himself and protect those he cares about. Yes. I'll tell you more about it when I come back tomorrow. Yes. I think he will handle himself just fine with us not around for a while. Yes. Of course we'll still check on him, but we should let him be on his own for a while. Yes... He'll be perfectly fine... After all, he _is_ our brother, and a son of Sparda. I'll see you tomorrow." and with that Vergil closed the phone and put it away.

He turned to walk away, and found himself face-to-face with Shinji. He didn't look pleased.

"One question Vergil. Did you know about the summoner or his little demon band that attacked us?" Shinji asked in an angry tone. His eyes told Vergil that he wasn't messing around, and Vergil personally knew that he could have any of his weapons in his hands with a mere thought.

Vergil shook his head, shocked at being snuck up on, but not thrown off enough to keep him from responding. "I didn't know any more then you did. I wanted to hunt him down as badly as you did, but I let you have him."

Shinji continued to stare hard into his brother's eyes for a few more moments.

"If I find out you planned that little event to test me Vergil... you'll regret it for the next thousand years." Shinji said darkly before his expression changed completely around to a friendly smirk. "Other then that, it's been good seeing you and good to know you care about me. See ya later brother, I have to get to sleep. School in the morning and all that." Shinji said before walking past him for the roof's edge.

Vergil only smirked at Shinji's drastic change in attitude.

"So... you really have feelings for that Misato woman?" he asked.

Shinji stopped but kept facing away from Vergil as he spoke.

"Call her 'that Misato woman' again Vergil, and I'll cut your tongue out. And yeah, I think I do have something for her. We'll just have to see where it leads... Good night." Shinji said before leaping off the roof and landing on his balcony.

"Good night Shinji. Have a good time in Japan. We'll be by for a visit some time." Vergil said before walking off and leaping down from the several story tall building into the alley below.


End file.
